High risk topic of Senate health care committee

Pictured: Senators Don Thomas (left) R-Dalton and Committee Chair Judson Hill (right) R-Marietta at a meeting of the Senate Healthcare Transformation Study Committee. (Not pictured: Senators Don Balfour (R-Snelville) and Horacena Tate (D-Atlanta).


The Senate Healthcare Transformation Study Committee met today in Atlanta, hoping to build on legislation passed in 2008, which reformed health coverage in Georgia by turning it into an incentive based commodity. Today insurance companies have the option to refund premiums to patients who stay healthy. States around the country are looking at Georgia's free market health coverage as a model, which rewards healthy lifestyles with insurance premium refunds.

However, lawmakers it's now time to tackle the lack of health care for the middle class, uninsured workers. Those who have been turned down for health coverage because of a pre-existing or catastrophic condition.

Marietta Republican Judson Hill heads the Senate Health Care Transformation Committee.

"These are for working Georgians, someone who may have had a heart attack, or may have diabetes or a lot of different health that are not uninsurable. They're working, they're out here making 50, 150 thousand dollars a year, but they've got ongoing health issues that may cost them thousands or tens of thousands of month in health care."

Georgia is one of 4 states which does not have a high risk pool. And, it's estimated there are 10-thousand high risk working Georgians, left with one very expensive option when catastrophic illness hits.

"When a guy gores to the hospital with some heart condition and he doesn't have insurance because he wasn't able to purchase it, then he comes under the indigent care trust fund and the government kick ins money to partially refund the hospital for the free services that they're giving to that individual. Those monies come from taxpayers."

The Committee --- working with the state Department of Insurance -- hopes to present a draft of its proposal prior to the '09 legislative session.