Georgia Ranked Worst in Healthcare Nationwide,  Study Finds

Forbes Advisor has just released a new study that says Georgia has the worst health care in the country. 26 different scales were used in the study. It talks about high prices, not enough doctors for patients, and insurance plans that are too expensive.

Here are some important parts of the study:

• The second most common reason why people didn’t go to the doctor in the past year, after cost (15.50%).
• The third highest number of residents (12.63%) do not have health insurance.
• The fifth highest death rate from kidney disease (18.87 deaths per 100,000 state population).
• The eighth highest number of stroke deaths (44.27 deaths per 100,000 residents of the state).
• The eighth highest average cost for people who get their health insurance through their job and only have one plan ($2,269 a year).

The minister from Hephzibah is Shavonne Williams. The woman said that churches are using their money to help people who don’t have health insurance pay their expensive medical bills. There are people in the gap who can’t afford private insurance and can’t get help from Georgia Pathways, the state program.

“There are people in Georgia who can’t get health care.” “Someone I worked with got cancer and tried to find money for chemotherapy because they didn’t qualify for Medicaid because they didn’t have any dependents or a job,” Williams said.

Instead of expanding Medicaid as required by the Affordable Care Act, Gov. Brian Kemp made Georgia Pathways, which requires people to work. The governor’s office says that more than 400,000 people in Georgia are qualified. But records from the Department of Community Health from December show that after six months, less than 2,500 people were still signed up.

During the 2024 congressional session, lawmakers talked about expanding Medicaid to cover everyone. Democrats thought the increase would cost the state $1.2 billion, but the federal government has already set aside $10 billion for Georgia, which would cover that amount.

Matt Brass and Carden Summers, two Republicans in the Senate, went against the group to back a plan to expand Medicaid. The vote was tied, but the bill did not pass. Instead, they passed a bill to set up a committee to look into the possibility of expansion.

Williams said that Georgians who are sick don’t have time.

Williams said, “We need it now, not a commission to look into expanding Medicaid. We need the coverage gap to be closed.”