2010 Georgia General Assembly

Legislative Wrap-Up

 Last month the Georgia General Assembly adjourned its 2010 session, the longest the session has gone in recent history.  Generally speaking, it was a good session for the Chapter, as the state struggled with a large deficit and cuts to Medicaid were a distinct possibility early in the session. However, thanks to our lobbying efforts those were avoided this year. Following is a brief summary of the issues we followed and their outcome. 

2011 State Budget (begins July 1, 2010)

-No cuts in Medicaid reimbursement for physicians.  (Cuts ranging from 2% to 13% had been proposed during the session.)

-Hospitals now be taxed at 1.45% of net revenue for 3 years in return for rate increases of 11%.  However, whether a hospital is a net winner or a net loser, is a function of the amount of Medicaid volume they see.

-Planning for Healthy Babies waiver included to extend Medicaid benefits to women following pregnancy

 Bills: 

 Autism: HB 426, Would have required expanded insurance coverage for autism, including coverage for ABA. Died in committee due to opposition from health plans.

 Bullying, SB 250: Would require schools to develop policies prohibiting, expands definition of bullying, educate parents, etc. Passed.

 Cell phone use & texting by teens: Prohibits use of cell phone and texting by teen drivers and texting while driving by all drivers. Passed.  (HB 23 and SB 360).

 Flu mist vaccine: HB 736, Adds nasal flu vaccine to the injectable forms of flu vaccine which pharmacists may give to those between ages of 13 and 49. Passed.

 Health Insurance, inter-state policies: HB 1184/SB 407: would have permitted sale of inter-state insurance policies, however would exempt them from observing Georgia's mandated benefit laws, including coverage for well-child visits. Died on the last day when Senate failed (intentionally) to take it up. We opposed these bills.

 Heart Screenings for young athletes, HR 1889, Urges Georgia High School Association to notify parents and students about the availability of “heart screenings” and encourages high school athletes to have the procedure done. Did not move.  (GHSA has an initiative underway in this area.)

 Medicaid CMO Oversight Committee, SB 443:  would create a Medicaid CMO Legislative Oversight committee to review consumer & provider complaints, etc. Failed.

 Medicaid Dental Crave-out, HB 1407, Would take dental services out of the Medicaid CMO’s and return them to Fee-for-Service Medicaid program.  Passed, but a veto by the Governor is expected.

 Prompt Pay, SB 62, Requires Third Party Administrators of self-funded plans (aka ERISA plans) to abide by the state’s prompt pay law. Passed.

 Seat belt use, pick-up trucks, SB 458, Requires use of seat belts in pick-up trucks by adults. (Currently those under 18 years old must use seat belts.)  Passed.

 Therapy services for children in Medicaid CMO’s: Would make certain improvements in providing these services in Medicaid CMOs.  Died in committee

 Tobacco tax increase: HB 39, Would have increased tax on cigarettes from .37 to $1.37 a pack & raised about $400M in annual near-term revenue.  Died in committee.

 Trauma Care: Would add a $10 fee to motor vehicle registrations to fund a compressive statewide trauma care system, if passed by voters. Passed.

 For a complete text of any these bills you can visit the Georgia General Assembly website:  www.legis.state.ga.us.   For more information on these or other bills, contact Rick Ward, at the Chapter office, at rward@gaaap.org.  Thanks to the members of the Legislative Committee for their efforts during the session and to all our members who contacted their legislators about our issues.  Your support and participation in the legislative process is vitally important to our advocacy.

Tobacco Tax Increase Talking Points:

1. The Medicaid budget profoundly effects the healthcare of children. Over 30% of all pediatricians recently surveyed the the Chapter have over half their practice in Medicaid.  Another 30% have almost half their practice in Medicaid (40% of the practice) That means that almost 2/3 of pediatricians have more than half of their practice covered by Medicaid.

3. Pediatricians are at the Tipping Point. Nearly 70% of these pediatricians indicated they can't keep providing care for less than their cost and will have to drop Medicaid patients if there are further cuts. Or they will reduce hiring and office hours and staff in order to try to make ends meet, not something the state economy needs now. Private medical practices are, at their core, small businesses.

4. Cutting Medicaid rates is penny-wise and pound-foolish, because it is a false economy. It will save money on one budget item, but cost more elsewhere.
Medicaid patients who are not seen in offices, will instead go to ER's (where they have to be seen, at higher cost) or wait till they are very sick, needing more and longer hospitalization. This will end up costing the state more, not less.

5. The current Georgia tobacco tax is far lower than the national average. The Georgia tobacco tax is lower than most states in the southeast.

6. Raising the Georgia tobacco tax by $1 per pack (to $1.37) will put it at about the national average.

7. Raising the tobacco tax will be good for children's health, because they are far less likely to start smoking if the price is higher. (Kids are more price-elastic than adults and the research has proven this.)

8. In order to keep providing care to children on Medicaid, the state needs to find an alternate revenue source as, the system cannot absorb any more cuts. The tobacco tax is ideal for that. It provides needed revenue and will lead to fewer teens smoking.
 

Mickey Channell, Greensboro - Vice Chair
404-656-7856
mickey.channell@house.ga.gov
 

Donna Sheldon, Dacula - Secretary
404-656-5025
donna.sheldon@house.ga.gov

Mark Burkhalter, Alpharetta
404- 656-5072
mark.burkhalter@house.ga.gov

Ed Rynders, Albany
404-656-7855
erynders@bellsouth.net

Jay Shaw, Lakeland
404-656-7859
jay.shaw@house.ga.gov

Ron Stephens, Savannah
404.656.5099
quickrxdrugs@aol.com

Pat Gardner, Atlanta
404-656-0265
pat@patgardner.org