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I invite you to view my and my opponent's responses to a survey by the American Cancer Society.
Everyone deserves access to all available health care treatment options, especially primary care. The State’s managed care system is failing too many Georgians. The health care costs for more than 1.7 million uninsured Georgians must be paid by taxpayers and those who do have insurance, resulting in higher medical bills for everyone. The legislature’s answer has been to give tax breaks to insurance companies. A simple economic fact is that if you tax something you get less of it. So why not offer tax breaks to physicians who carry a high mix of Medicaid, Peachcare, & Medicare to off-set the low payment rates, lower doctor’s malpractice insurance premiums, or provide loan forgiveness if a doctor practices in a rural area for at least 8-10 years? Providing tax breaks to insurance companies doesn’t improve anyone’s health care or ensure doctors are adequately reimbursed. The insurance companies are posting record profits and paying their CEO's million dollar bonuses and perks, while more and more Georgians are losing their health care plans. In addition, I am concerned about the escalating cost of medications, as well as the following issues:
Please read on for more on these issues.
More than 1.7 million Georgians are uninsured. Healthcare costs are rising at a rate higher than inflation and wages simply are not keeping up. In the past two years, more than 200,000 Georgians became uninsured.
- Many employers have dropped health care plans for employees as a cost savings measure and incredibly, Georgia is giving tax breaks to insurance companies, which may ultimately decrease the number of companies offering plans.
- Others have shifted costs to employees in the form of higher premiums or co-pays, or have dropped or significantly increased the cost for family members of employees.
Ironically, the cost of health care insurance goes down when more people are insured. I will work to lower the number of uninsured Georgians. We need improve access to health care for more Georgians.
Three years ago, the state changed health care providers for Georgia's state employee health benefit plan. On its face the measure was intended to save the state money. This year the State reduced the number of companies offering benefits to two UnitedHealth Care and Cigna. UnitedHealth Care has an abysmal record of payment and has uneven and inconsistent coverage rates, yet little was done to correct these known problems. State employees' health care is now at the mercy of financial pressures of Wall Street. You deserve better from your legislature.
Two years ago, the state shifted most Georgians on Medicaid to managed care programs. As with the state employees health benefit plan, the intent was to save the state money. Unfortunately, there are major problems. Reimbursement rates are so low that most specialists in the Tiftarea won’t accept those patients. What’s more, the number of primary care physicians who accept Medicaid is dreadfully low. As a result, too many people must go to the emergency room to receive care, yet when their immediate problem is addressed, there are no physicians to whom they can go for follow-up care. You deserve to be represented by someone who will take the situations of ALL Georgians to heart when working and voting on critical issues like YOUR health care.
Trauma Care in Georgia is in critical condition. There are only four Level-1 trauma centers in Georgia. The closest center to our district is in Macon, however Georgia has no trauma network plan in place. As a result, when you need lifesaving trauma assistance in Tift or Turner county, emergency room doctors may have to spend valuable minutes trying to locate a center that will take you, rather than automatically sending you to a trauma center based on our location in the state or routing the request through a central trauma-care scheduling center. During the last session, the Legislature failed to act to put a trauma network in place or to adequately fund those trauma centers. We cannot afford lose any of the Level-1 centers we currently have. In fact, we need to work to try to expand the trauma network. Georgia's death rate from trauma injuries, such as those from house fires and car wrecks - is 20 percent higher than the national average. Trauma care is expensive, but it is critical that we have a geographically balanced, stable and adequately funded network in place.
The best way I can represent you is if you communicate your ideas to me. Let me know what you think about Health Care. I will listen.
Help elect John Tibbetts
to represent the people of Tift and Turner counties
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