Author Budget and Taxes Health Justice Library Policy Areas Reports Timothy Sweeney Overview: 2016 Fiscal Year for Department of Community Health February 10, 2015 / January 15, 2020 by Timothy Sweeney The governor’s proposed 2016 budget directs $2.45 billion to the Department of Community Health, not including money for agencies attached for administrative purposes. That is a $27.8 million decline from the 2015 budget approved last spring. The department operates nine programs, although more than 96 percent of general fund spending, or about $2.36 billion, is […] Read more » State Budget
Author Fact Sheets Health Justice Library Policy Areas Timothy Sweeney Medicaid Expansion a Shot in the Arm for Coastal Georgia September 8, 2014 / January 17, 2020 by Timothy Sweeney About 50,000 uninsured Georgians in the 10-county Coastal Georgia region could get guaranteed health coverage if Georgia accepts new federal money to expand Medicaid eligibility. That is about half the area residents between 18 and 64 without health coverage in 2012, the last year of available data. It’s the third largest number of residents of […] Read more »
Author Blog Health Justice Timothy Sweeney New Report: Georgia’s Medicaid Opposition to Cost $34 Billion August 14, 2014 / January 15, 2020 by Timothy Sweeney Georgia’s refusal to expand Medicaid to cover more than 500,000 uninsured people will cost the state’s health care system about $34 billion in federal money over the next decade, according to a new report by two well-respected research organizations. Georgia’s hospitals alone will lose out on almost $13 billion. That money could go a long […] Read more »
Author Blog Health Justice Timothy Sweeney Georgia Health Coverage Rate Trails 47 States August 8, 2014 / January 15, 2020 by Timothy Sweeney Adults in Georgia are more likely to go without health coverage than people in all but two other states, according to a new Gallup survey. Georgia’s adult uninsured rate of 20.2 percent is worse than only Texas’ 24 percent and Mississippi’s 20.6 percent and clocks in nearly 7 points higher than the national average of […] Read more »
Author Blog Health Justice Timothy Sweeney Uninsured Rates Fall in States Expanding Medicaid July 25, 2014 / January 15, 2020 by Timothy Sweeney States that take advantage of new federal money available to extend Medicaid coverage to more residents are seeing substantial declines in uninsured rates this year. It makes sense. Greater Medicaid eligibility increases health coverage, and updated numbers from 2014 provide yet more compelling evidence that Georgia’s failure to expand Medicaid keeps the state’s uninsured rate […] Read more »
Author Blog Health Justice Timothy Sweeney Close Georgia’s Coverage Gap to Stabilize State’s Hospitals July 10, 2014 / January 15, 2020 by Timothy Sweeney States that expanded Medicaid eligibility to close their state’s coverage gap experienced substantial and nearly immediate reductions in charity care cases due to greater Medicaid payments. Those are the findings of a new report by the Colorado Hospital Association, adding new support for the case to increase health coverage for Georgia’s working poor through income […] Read more »
Author Blog Health Justice Timothy Sweeney Georgia’s Rural Health System Needs Comprehensive Exam June 6, 2014 / January 16, 2020 by Timothy Sweeney | 1 Comment on Georgia’s Rural Health System Needs Comprehensive Exam Georgia’s recently appointed Rural Hospital Stabilization Committee will convene Monday, June 9 for the first time and it should seize the opportunity to fix a health care access problem that cries out for a comprehensive solution. Hospitals are closing in rural Georgia at an alarming rate, including Charlton Memorial, the subject of a recent NPR […] Read more »
Author Blog Health Justice Timothy Sweeney Medicaid Expansion Still Georgia’s Best Way to Bridge Coverage Gap May 12, 2014 / January 17, 2020 by Timothy Sweeney As published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on May 11, 2014 A quick scan of recent headlines could leave you with the impression two state laws approved this year all but end any conversation about Medicaid expansion in Georgia. Fortunately that isn’t the case, for the sake of more than 500,000 uninsured Georgians, the state’s health […] Read more »
Author Blog Health Justice Timothy Sweeney Newspaper Series Shines Light on What Georgia Loses Without Medicaid Expansion April 17, 2014 / January 15, 2020 by Timothy Sweeney The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Misty Williams just got a well-deserved laurel from the Columbia Journalism Review for her exemplary two-part series that clearly explains the tremendous downside to Georgia’s choice not to expand Medicaid. The second installment of the series last Sunday took a detailed look at the policy choice Georgia is making by not taking […] Read more »
Author Blog Health Justice Timothy Sweeney Legacy of 2014 Legislature was to Make Georgia’s Faulty Health Care Policy Worse April 4, 2014 / January 15, 2020 by Timothy Sweeney | 1 Comment on Legacy of 2014 Legislature was to Make Georgia’s Faulty Health Care Policy Worse Georgia is home to more residents without health insurance coverage than all but four states. Still, state lawmakers used the 2014 to focus on ways to make it more difficult for Georgians to access benefits of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Georgia is left with its most pressing health care priorities unaddressed. Those priorities include […] Read more »
