By Kelly McCutchen With the failure of health care reform in Congress, Georgia faces decision time: Accept the status quo or lead a state-based effort to address the issue. The decision state leaders make — one that must be made quickly – will have long-lasting effects. On the negative side of the ledger, the gridlock in Washington leaves many challenges unaddressed. It’s not pretty. Nearly all of Georgia’s rural hospitals are struggling to stay in business. Medicaid recipients search in vain for doctors willing to take new patients.  Several hundred thousand low-income Georgians are unable to afford insurance. Hundreds of thousands of working-class Georgians are trapped on the federal exchange, facing skyrocketing premiums and shrinking options. On the positive side,… View Article

By Kelly McCutchen In rural Georgia and across the country, the uncertain future and closure of emergency rooms and hospitals are all too common. A primary factor is the long-term impact of a federal law that requires hospital emergency departments to treat and stabilize all patients, regardless of their ability to pay. This law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), made the nation’s ERs the default health care provider for the uninsured. The federal government doesn’t cover the full cost of providing this care, however, making EMTALA a massive unfunded federal mandate. Imagine addressing other social problems like this: Eliminate hunger by requiring all restaurants to serve hungry people regardless of their ability to pay the bill. Combat… View Article

By Kelly McCutchen With the failure of the federal government to address this nation’s health care crisis, the job now falls to the states. Fortunately for the states, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides them broad authority to restructure federal funding and regulations through the underutilized State Innovation Waiver. Georgia is well-positioned to seize this opportunity and serve as a model to show the rest of the nation the way forward on health care reform. “Crisis” is an overused word, but it describes the situation for many Georgia families. Premiums for policies on the Georgia ACA exchange have more than doubled over the past four years, and they could increase by up to 40 percent next year. In exchange for… View Article