The Georgia Senate has passed a measure that would create a statewide agency designed to promote and market a consumer-driven health insurance superstore. The plan has the backing of the Lt. Governor, who called the proposed Georgia Health Marketplace Authority a "free market solution based option for consumers." The plan would allow individuals to buy health care coverage directly from a doctor or hospital. Insurers and health care companies would pay a fee to be included on a web-based list from which people choose products and services. The bill's sponsor, Tommie Williams (R-Lyons) says buying health care coverage should be like shopping for any other product. "They can buy just any kind of car they want, that they can afford. That's what we're trying to do, is offer alot of different products out there," says Williams. Cagle, says the program is designed to help some of the 1.7 million uninsured Georgians. The web-based site would be allowed to market high-deductible health care plans to Georgians ages 18 to 25. Participants in those plans pay out-of-pocket up to a certain ceiling but have coverage for "catastrophic" events, such as cancer. Democratic critics of the plan say it excludes the poorest of Georgians because of an an inability to pay for items excluded from coverage, including STD screening, pregnancy complications, and birth control. The measure passed 42-12.
