Health Insurance Georgia
Even though Atlanta, Georgia is the home of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the state ranks “37th” in health care rankings in the USA. That said there are “green lights” and some “dark clouds;” floating over Georgia that have produced a few rather alarming statistics in terms of health insurance Georgia.
And even though you can “make a case” for lower income families being able to afford health insurance Georgia coverage they need, thanks to new legislation, these “clouds” still stand out.
Georgia Health Care Facts
• Nearly two million Georgians, amounting to about 25 percent of those under Medicare age, are uninsured. This statistic is way above the national average.
• The State of Georgia ranks “47th” in the lack of any type of health insurance.
• Georgia ranks “7th” in “binge” drinking.
• Georgia ranks “46th” in unhealthy air.
On the plus side of the health insurance Georgia ledger the state has recently taken great strides in starting to improve some of its “antique” health care laws. In order to combat the uninsured negatives, they will attempt to make it much easier for lower income families to afford the type of medical coverage they need. Some of the recent legislation that Georgia has imposed is:
• Those with “high-deductible” health plans can now deduct premium costs from their income at the end of the year.
• Those entrepreneur businesses with less than 50 employees offering “high-deductible” plans, and pay a minimum of $250 in premium costs annually, can now receive a “tax credit” of that amount for each employee that has been enrolled more than one year.
• High-deductible health insurance Georgia plans are now exempt from premium taxes previously imposed on insurers.
Health care reform is underway in Georgia, and with Medicaid expansion and the Affordable Care Act, “blue skies” are back again.