Advancing Health Reform in Georgia
Georgia has the 3rd highest uninsured rate in the country with approximately 2 million uninsured residents that do not have access to affordable health care.
In March 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act or ACA) into law to address the crisis in care for the uninsured and under-insured. The law contains provisions that:
1. Expand rights and protections for patients
2. Increase health insurance choices
3. Control the cost of health insurance
4. Strengthen Medicare
5. Help employers provide employer-based health benefits
To learn more about the ACA and how it may impact you click here. To find out how the ACA is helping Georgia residents access quality health care click here. To follow implementation of the ACA in Georgia click here.
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While the ACA provides the framework for expanding access to affordable and quality health care, it is the public and private entities within the states that are responsible for leveraging the opportunities.
ARxC is up to the task. As a patient advocacy organization acutely aware of the turmoil endured by uninsured and under-insured patients, ARxC is committed to expand on the opportunities afforded by the ACA.
One of the most crucial components of the ACA is the expansion of coverage through the development of a competitive health insurance marketplace. This presents the opportunity for public or private entities to develop new qualified health insurance plans that best meet the payer needs of Georgians. Seizing the opportunity to reverse the paradigm of traditional health insurance practices, ARxC is working to develop a best practice, consumer-centered health insurance plan that meets the needs of Georgia citizens and promotes the health and wellbeing of beneficiaries.
Development of the model is informed by the results of the ARxC Health Plan Survey© and the ARxC Standards of Care.
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ARxC Health Plan Survey©
ARxC Standards of Care
1. Transparency and Accountability
Transparency ensures patients are fully informed of their health insurance options, financial responsibilities, health care provider options, and health care and wellness opportunities. As stewards of their professions, health care payers and providers must be held accountable to the services provided to patients. Accountability also implies patients uphold their responsibility to be engaged in their own health care decisions.
To enforce these principles, ARxC favors development of a third-party "watchdog" committee that assesses and monitors the performance of health care payers and providers.
Guiding documents for this principle include:
Health disparities are inequalities endured by certain groups, commonly defined by race, ethnicity, income, educational level, sexual orientation, and gender identity. These inequalities cause certain groups of people to endure a disproportionate burden of disease, disability and death.
Given the diversity of Georgians, addressing health disparities is the cornerstone of ARxC's best-practice health insurance model for Georgians. The following documents guide our efforts to uphold this standard of care:
3. Primary Prevention
Today's fee-for-service model of care causes the health care system to thrive on specialty-driven care rather than prevention. ARxC fights to reverse this trend by advocating for a system that provides incentives for preventive medicine and wellness maintenance and reduces disparity in health care.
5. Benefit Management and Access to Coverage
Because there is no universal health care system in the United States, Americans are individually responsible for finding a health insurance plan that best meets their health care needs at a cost they can afford.
To facilitate access to the health insurance, ARxC finds it vital that the ACA's Affordable Insurance Exchanges (systems that helps residents enroll in a health insurance plan that best meets their health needs at a cost they can afford) be consistent with the values of freedom of choice, freedom of practice and universal access for all patients by including the principles of the Health Insurer's Code of Conduct.
Additional resources include:
In March 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act or ACA) into law to address the crisis in care for the uninsured and under-insured. The law contains provisions that:
1. Expand rights and protections for patients
2. Increase health insurance choices
3. Control the cost of health insurance
4. Strengthen Medicare
5. Help employers provide employer-based health benefits
To learn more about the ACA and how it may impact you click here. To find out how the ACA is helping Georgia residents access quality health care click here. To follow implementation of the ACA in Georgia click here.
_________________________________________________
While the ACA provides the framework for expanding access to affordable and quality health care, it is the public and private entities within the states that are responsible for leveraging the opportunities.
ARxC is up to the task. As a patient advocacy organization acutely aware of the turmoil endured by uninsured and under-insured patients, ARxC is committed to expand on the opportunities afforded by the ACA.
One of the most crucial components of the ACA is the expansion of coverage through the development of a competitive health insurance marketplace. This presents the opportunity for public or private entities to develop new qualified health insurance plans that best meet the payer needs of Georgians. Seizing the opportunity to reverse the paradigm of traditional health insurance practices, ARxC is working to develop a best practice, consumer-centered health insurance plan that meets the needs of Georgia citizens and promotes the health and wellbeing of beneficiaries.
Development of the model is informed by the results of the ARxC Health Plan Survey© and the ARxC Standards of Care.
_________________________________________________
ARxC Health Plan Survey©
What services and benefits would you like to have in your ideal health insurance plan? What role are you willing to play as a stakeholder in your plan?
If you are a legal resident of Georgia and at least 18 years of age, please take the ARxC Health Plan Survey© and let us know what your ideal health insurance plan looks like.
It takes 15-20 minutes to complete the survey. There are no risks or benefits to participating and you will not be linked to your responses. Participation is entirely optional.
The survey responses will be analyzed and shared with the Georgia community as a means to promote the adoption of the model's consumer-centered components. ARxC will use the survey findings to guide development of our best-practice health insurance model.
If you are a legal resident of Georgia and at least 18 years of age, please take the ARxC Health Plan Survey© and let us know what your ideal health insurance plan looks like.
It takes 15-20 minutes to complete the survey. There are no risks or benefits to participating and you will not be linked to your responses. Participation is entirely optional.
The survey responses will be analyzed and shared with the Georgia community as a means to promote the adoption of the model's consumer-centered components. ARxC will use the survey findings to guide development of our best-practice health insurance model.
Please take the time to take this survey. This is your opportunity to have a voice in the health insurance options that may be available to you in 2014.
For more information about the survey go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NQ88GSM.
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For more information about the survey go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NQ88GSM.
_________________________________________________
ARxC Standards of Care
1. Transparency and Accountability
Transparency ensures patients are fully informed of their health insurance options, financial responsibilities, health care provider options, and health care and wellness opportunities. As stewards of their professions, health care payers and providers must be held accountable to the services provided to patients. Accountability also implies patients uphold their responsibility to be engaged in their own health care decisions.
To enforce these principles, ARxC favors development of a third-party "watchdog" committee that assesses and monitors the performance of health care payers and providers.
Guiding documents for this principle include:
- Patient's Bill of Rights
- AMA Code of Conduct Principles
- AMA Code of Medical Ethics for medical professionals.
Health disparities are inequalities endured by certain groups, commonly defined by race, ethnicity, income, educational level, sexual orientation, and gender identity. These inequalities cause certain groups of people to endure a disproportionate burden of disease, disability and death.
Given the diversity of Georgians, addressing health disparities is the cornerstone of ARxC's best-practice health insurance model for Georgians. The following documents guide our efforts to uphold this standard of care:
- Commission to End Health Care Disparities- Five Year Summary
- Health and Human Services Disparity Action Plan.
3. Primary Prevention
Today's fee-for-service model of care causes the health care system to thrive on specialty-driven care rather than prevention. ARxC fights to reverse this trend by advocating for a system that provides incentives for preventive medicine and wellness maintenance and reduces disparity in health care.
To optimize prevention initiatives, ARxC advocates for expanded insurance coverage of preventive practices as outlined in the United States Prevention Services Task Force (USPSTF).
Moreover, we are committed to developing new and innovative means of increasing utility of evidence-based prevention and disease management practices.
Read the ARxC Press Release: Health Reform RX Opportunity to learn more about ARxC's commitment to bring health reform to Georgia.
4. Integrity of the Doctor - Patient Allied Relationship
ARxC fights to preserve the integrity of the doctor-patient relationship and prohibit payers from influencing patients' health care decisions.
To prevent insurance companies from interfering with the care provided to patients by their health care professionals, ARxC has partnered with the Georgia Healthy Living Foundation to support the Fail First Hurts program, an initiative that strives to end the discriminatory fail first practice. For more on this initiative please refer to the GHLF Fail First Hurts press release and the GHLF Fail First Hurts survey results.
ARxC's Specialty Tiers initiative and Testimony to Georgia Pharmaceutical Licensing Board are grounded in this commitment to full access to affordable and safe medications for all, especially people with serious chronic diseases.
5. Benefit Management and Access to Coverage
Because there is no universal health care system in the United States, Americans are individually responsible for finding a health insurance plan that best meets their health care needs at a cost they can afford.
To facilitate access to the health insurance, ARxC finds it vital that the ACA's Affordable Insurance Exchanges (systems that helps residents enroll in a health insurance plan that best meets their health needs at a cost they can afford) be consistent with the values of freedom of choice, freedom of practice and universal access for all patients by including the principles of the Health Insurer's Code of Conduct.
Additional resources include:
- "Rules of the Road: How an Insurance Exchange Can Pool Risk and Protect Enrollees" by Sarah Lueck for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, March 31, 2010
