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Tag: healthcare access

  • Georgia group works to address growing mental health crisis among farmers

    Georgia group works to address growing mental health crisis among farmers

    Georgia group works to address growing mental health crisis among farmers

    A Georgia organization is looking for ways to address mental health concerns among the state’s farmers.

    John P. McElveen is the director of the Georgia Agricultural Wellness Alliance, which was founded in 2022. He told WABE that the general population might not realize the types of stressors farmers are under today.

    “I do think those outside of agriculture sometimes have this very rosy picture of the pastoral settings in which farmers work and that they get to be outside and enjoy that. And that’s true to a certain extent,” McElveen said. “But it is a double-edged sword, if you will. And so, they really need to understand — those consumers and others — and we’re all impacted and depend upon agriculture. We need to know about that stress and those challenges.”

    From natural disasters like hurricanes to economic challenges, such as tariffs and rising fuel costs, farmers face several obstacles to keep their businesses going, which contribute to worsening mental health.

    The National Rural Health Association reports that farmers are three to five times more likely to die by suicide than the average population.

    McElveen was introduced to a program called COMET, the Changing Our Mental and Emotional Trajectory, based out of Colorado. The program works to train rural communities how to help people who are struggling.

    McElveen hopes to bring the program to Georgia to help rural communities deal with mental health challenges.

  • Carter Center forum highlights need for earlier mental health care

    Carter Center forum highlights need for earlier mental health care

    Carter Center forum highlights need for earlier mental health care

    The Carter Center hosted its 30th annual Mental Health Forum, continuing the legacy of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

    The event is dedicated to advancing mental health policy, systems, and practice across the state of Georgia by bringing together state leaders, experts in the field, and advocates.

    Former U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, who helped get the 2008 federal Mental Health Parity Act passed, spoke at the event, according to Georgia Public Broadcasting.

    He said Georgia could do more in the area of prevention.

    “Right now, we pay for the most costly care because we wait until it becomes a crisis,” Kennedy said. “No surprise; if you waited for cancer to be Stage 4, you’d end up spending a lot more money than if you did much more, early on, to screen.”

    Georgia passed its own Mental Health Parity Act in 2022 and recently launched a mental health parity centralized dashboard to help track issues with insurance coverage for mental health care claims. 

    Also at the event, Commissioner Kevin Tanner of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities gave an update of the agency’s plans and several panels discussed topics from immigration to caregiving needs.

  • Georgia advocates react as court restores temporary access to abortion pill

    Georgia advocates react as court restores temporary access to abortion pill

    Georgia advocates react as court restores temporary access to abortion pill

    Georgia advocates for reproductive rights responded to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Monday that temporarily restores access to abortion medication by mail.

    The court halted an appellate court order to block the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule that allowed the abortion pill mifepristone to be prescribed online and dispensed through the mail.

    However, the administrative stay is only temporary and will remain in place until 5 p.m. on May 11. Now, the court needs to consider whether it will approve the drug companies’ requests to block the order while litigation proceeds.

    Meanwhile, Georgia advocates for abortion rights remain active in calling on the courts to dismiss any case that limits reproductive freedoms.

    Monica Simpson is the executive director of Sister Song: Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. She told WABE that restricting mifepristone would lead to unnecessary and potentially harmful delays in care.

    “Mifepristone is one of two medications commonly used in medication abortion. It is also used in miscarriage care, helping people safely manage pregnancy loss without unnecessary delays. Restricting access to this medication is not just about mifepristone. It is about power and control over who gets to make decisions about their own body,” Simpson said.

    The FDA approved mifepristone as a safe and effective way to terminate pregnancy in 2000 and loosened restrictions on the drug in 2021 so that patients could receive the medication by mail.

    Dr. Neil Winawer with Emory University School of Medicine told Fox 5 Atlanta that this change was mostly due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    “During the pandemic in 2021, it was dangerous to be around patients and so this really grew out of that, and because of that, in 2021, the FDA said it was okay to be able to provide abortion care services via telemedicine and prescribe mifepristone,” he said.

    The Supreme Court is expected to make another decision on the case in the coming weeks.

    “Once again, our rights are in limbo, and once again the constant rollercoaster of court orders will cause confusion among everyday people just trying to get care. But make no mistake: abortion is still legal in Georgia. Feminist Center will continue to offer care, including prescribing mifepristone. And we will fill in any gaps that this judicial back-and-forth has manufactured,” said Kwajelyn Jackson, the executive director of the Feminist Center for Reproductive Liberation, in a news release.

  • New dashboard tracks mental health insurance gaps in Georgia

    New dashboard tracks mental health insurance gaps in Georgia

    New dashboard tracks mental health insurance gaps in Georgia

    Georgians for a Healthy Future has launched a new centralized dashboard to help Georgians track issues with insurance coverage for mental health care claims. 

    Under Georgia’s Mental Health Parity Act passed in 2022 and federal parity regulations, Georgia health insurers are required to cover mental health and substance-use conditions at the same rate as physical health conditions. 

    The dashboard can help Georgians monitor how well their insurers comply with parity rules.

    Whitney Griggs with Georgians for a Healthy Future told Georgia Public Broadcasting that several insurers receive “F” grades because they do not provide real-world data on consumer experiences.

    “What they don’t show you is the experience of the consumer trying to get that mental health care,” Griggs said. “How hard is it for them to actually find a provider in their area? And that is measurable, and something that, until we have that information, we’ll never really know how consumers are fairing with the mental health parity law.” 

    Most private insurers in Georgia do not follow standard templates for reporting making it harder to understand how coverage is applied.

    In January, the state fined health insurance companies for nearly $25 million for violating Georgia’s Mental Health Parity laws.

    “I said it before and I’ll say it again: insurance companies will not take advantage of consumers under my watch,” John King, Georgia’s Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner, said in a statement. “These companies are not above the law, and I am taking definitive action to hold them accountable for denying Georgians the care they need.”

    Georgians can file parity complaints through Georgia’s Department of Community Health website.

     

  • Georgia sees major drop in ACA enrollment after subsidy cuts

    Georgia sees major drop in ACA enrollment after subsidy cuts

    Georgia sees major drop in ACA enrollment after subsidy cuts

    More than half a million Georgians have dropped health insurance coverage after Affordable Care Act plans faced substantial price hikes with recent changes.

    An investigation by The Current and The Georgia Recorder shows that 550,000 Georgians have not signed up for Georgia’s healthcare plan. That is a 37% drop in enrollment compared to January 2025.

    Health insurance policies on Georgia’s healthcare marketplace saw an increase in premiums after the U.S. Congress and President Donald Trump decided not to extend health insurance subsidies from the coronavirus pandemic. The subsidies ended on Dec. 31, 2025, causing the increase in prices.

    “I don’t know what we’re going to do, honestly” Monty Veazey, president of the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals, told The Current. “It’s a larger number than I anticipated.”

    The decline in enrollment could cause major issues for Georgia’s rural hospitals that already face challenging financial circumstances and may face more uncertainty as Georgia’s uninsured rate increases after years of progress.

    Emma Wager, a senior policy analyst on the ACA at the health research nonprofit KFF, said a large amount of disenrollment could impact hospitals across the state.

    “A larger uninsured population means that hospitals have to provide more uncompensated care. And we also know that people who are uninsured are more likely to delay or forgo medicare care…they may have severe needs by the time they actually see a doctor.”

  • Trump taps Dr. Erica Schwartz to lead CDC amid agency concerns

    Trump taps Dr. Erica Schwartz to lead CDC amid agency concerns

    Trump taps Dr. Erica Schwartz to lead CDC amid agency concerns

    President Donald Trump has nominated Dr. Erica Schwartz to serve as the next director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

    Schwartz served as the deputy surgeon general during Trump’s first administration and retired as a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. She is a preventative medicine physician and also served as the chief medical officer of the U.S. Coast Guard.

    “When I was a military physician, my job was all about readiness. It was all about public health: prevention, vaccines, early detection. If we get that right, we change lives before illness ever begins,” Schwartz said in a video on Instagram.

    If confirmed, Schwartz will answer directly to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

    Admiral Paul Zukunft, the former commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, chose Schwartz as their chief medical officer in 2015. He told NPR that Schwartz was a brilliant doctor and lawyer.

    “She was not in the least bit reticent when it came to talking truth to power,” he said.

    Health professionals and former CDC employees told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that they were encouraged by the nomination, but they remain wary about whether Schwartz will be able to stabilize the agency.

    “You’re putting a director in place into an organization that is so deeply dismantled that it’s going to take much longer than a year or six months to get it up and functioning the way that it was just a year and a half ago,” said Abby Tighe, who is now the executive director of the National Public Health Coalition. She was one of the many people fired from the CDC in February of last year.

  • Kemp weighs bill to bring more international doctors to rural Georgia

    Kemp weighs bill to bring more international doctors to rural Georgia

    Kemp weighs bill to bring more international doctors to rural Georgia

    A bill is now on Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk that could increase the number of medical professionals in Georgia, specifically in rural counties.

    Senate Bill 427 passed with bipartisan support and would help bring doctors from outside the country to work in rural counties, hospitals and medical schools.

    Natalie Crawford is the executive director of Georgia First, a nonprofit that advocates for healthcare access. She told GPB News that the bill allows internationally trained physicians to acquire a limited provisional license to be able to practice medicine under supervision.

    “We feel like that’s an important step in attracting more talent, more medical professionals to Georgia, especially in rural areas where oftentimes we don’t have adequate access to care for patients,” she said.

    Crawford highlighted that around 500,000 Georgians are set to lose their healthcare coverage over the next 10 years due to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and her organization is advocating for expanding Medicaid in Georgia.

    “We think the best next step for Georgia is to expand Medicaid, and that would unlock a new option for hundreds of thousands of Georgians, getting us extra federal funding to help cover them,” Crawford said. “Expanding Medicaid in Georgia would help to keep more people in the workforce, boost our economy, and protect our rural hospitals.”

    Kemp has until May 12 to sign or veto the legislation before it automatically becomes a law.

  • Georgia nonprofit trains young leaders to tackle health equity gaps

    Georgia nonprofit trains young leaders to tackle health equity gaps

    Georgia nonprofit trains young leaders to tackle health equity gaps

    A Georgia-based nonprofit is helping young adults step into leadership roles as health advocates within their own communities.

    While traditional public health programs emphasize research and data, they don’t always prepare students for the realities of policymaking or grassroots advocacy. That’s where organizations like BLKHLTH aim to fill the gap.

    Johnathan Carey, a Master of Public Health student at the Morehouse School of Medicine, says his experience as a fellow in the group’s CARES program gave him hands-on exposure to the policy process. During his fellowship, Carey addressed South Fulton County commissioners in support of building a new hospital in Union City.

    “Being someone who is more so in the policy space, I was actually able to learn, real time, what it’s like to pass bills and what advocacy actually looks like on the ground when we’re advocating for equality across all care, whether it’s health care or public health,” Carey said.

    Carey also credits the program with expanding his professional network and strengthening his ability to advocate effectively.

    BLKHLTH is part of a broader movement of culturally focused health initiatives across Georgia, working to make care more accessible and relevant to the communities they serve.

    Matthew McCurdy, the organization’s executive director, says BLKHLTH focuses on meeting people where they are.

    “The organization BLKHLTH really provides health resources, information and access to health care in ways that feel culturally relevant, culturally resonant – that are in community and community-based rather than folks having to travel far – and in ways that feel really affirming,” McCurdy said.

    The need for that work is especially clear in rural parts of the state. A recent study found that rural coalitions often struggle to address the underlying causes of health disparities. BLKHLTH has been working to bridge those gaps through free health screenings and open community discussions.

    For current fellows like Lauren Wall, a sophomore at Spelman College, the program offers a chance to connect academic interests with real-world action. She says she joined to better understand how policy and community organizing can improve access to mental health care.

    “How policy and community organizing can improve mental health access,” Wall pointed out. “I’m really interested in gaining tools to build stronger partnerships and create impactful initiatives to help other people as well.”

    This year, BLKHLTH is marking a decade of that work, celebrating its 10th anniversary.

  • Midwives sue Georgia over restrictive laws limiting maternity care access

    Midwives sue Georgia over restrictive laws limiting maternity care access

    Midwives sue Georgia over restrictive laws limiting maternity care access

    Georgia and some of the most restrictive midwifery laws in the nation, and so a coalition of midwives has filed a lawsuit to challenge them.

    The lawsuit was filed in Fulton County Superior Court on April 2 and alleges that Georgia’s law contributes to gaps in access to maternity care, according to WABE.

    Tamara Taitt, the director of the Atlanta Birth Center, is a midwife and a plaintiff in the lawsuit. She said certain restrictions are unnecessary, such as the requirement that Certified Nurse Midwives operate under a doctor’s supervision.

    “We could employ more midwives and serve more families. Instead, Georgia is choosing to leave skilled and committed workforce on the sidelines even as communities struggle to access care,” Taitt said.

    Georgia received an F grade for its preterm birth rate in the March of Dimes’ 2025 Report Card, which placed the state among the lowest-ranked for maternal and infant health in the country.

    Georgia has three freestanding birth centers that offer midwife care, and a fourth closed its doors recently in Savannah citing financial issues.

    “Birth centers are really facing challenges around reimbursement, like inadequate reimbursement from insurance,” Taitt said. “And 97% of our clients either have Medicaid or private insurance as their source of payment and so inadequate insurance reimbursement for the quality of care that we provide, which is something that all reproductive health care providers face, really strains our high-touch model because we spend more time with our patients and so the birth center is ever in a fight for its survival.”

    State Rep. Park Cannon, who is also a trained doula, supported House Bill 520, which was introduced in 2025 and would have loosened the restrictions on midwives.

    “This bill did not come up for consideration, nor was it passed. So today, the midwives have launched their lawsuit in the Fulton County Superior Court to demand access to equitable employment opportunities in Georgia,” Cannon said.

  • UnitedHealthcare expands doula coverage, boosting maternal health efforts

    UnitedHealthcare expands doula coverage, boosting maternal health efforts

    UnitedHealthcare expands doula coverage, boosting maternal health efforts

    UnitedHealthcare recently announced a change in their healthcare plans that cover doula care.

    The health insurance provider now offers employer-sponsored plans that cover doula services similar to Cigna and Elevance Health that have also expanded coverage.

    Sekesa Berry, founder and executive director of the Georgia Black Doula Network, said this will encourage hospitals and nonprofits to provide the service option.

    “It’s exciting,” she said, “and truthfully, I believe it’s going to create more sustainability in the work. One of the greatest hurdles for doulas is the entrepreneurial capacity because so few places actually hire doulas. So I think this opportunity to receive insurance coverage is going to help them sustain their practice.”

    Dr. Lisa Saul, chief medical director for women’s health at UnitedHealthcare, said with the U.S. having the highest maternal mortality rate among high-income countries, the change in their coverage will hopefully improve maternal and infant health outcomes. Research shows that doula support can help reduce complications.

    “With the United States having the highest maternal mortality rate, as well as maternal morbidity rate, among high-income countries,” she said, “we know that most of these deaths and most of these scenarios are considered to be preventable.”

    Berry started her organization to help address Georgia’s maternal health crisis. Her group has trained dozens of doulas, but she said that many new doulas burn out because they can’t make a sustainable living. She said she hopes the insurance coverage can help change that.

    The Georgia Black Doula Network is accepting applications for its third doula training cohort through May 1.