Georgia trails others on health policies

Georgia provides less oversight over individual health policies than many other states, experts say.

Twenty-nine states, for instance, don’t allow individual insurers to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions for more than a year, according to a 2008 study by Families USA, a health consumer advocacy group.

Georgia has no limit.

About half of the states have a mechanism for providing coverage to people with chronic medical problems.

Georgia has none.

Five states prohibit insurers from charging higher premiums based on health status. Georgia isn’t among them.

“Really terrible,” is how Families USA’s Cheryl Fish-Parcham describes Georgia’s oversight of individual health plans.

The group’s study found that the Southeast in general lagged in consumer protections on individual health policyholders.

An exception is North Carolina, which regulates premiums and has a state-subsidized risk pool for “uninsurables.”

Georgia lawmakers have shown little inclination to beef up consumer protections.

Failed attempts have included efforts to create a Georgia version of North Carolina’s risk pool, and a 2008 bill that would have given state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine more authority over premiums.

State Rep. Carl Rogers (R-Gainesville), an insurance agent, introduced the bill, initially to a promising reception. Its other sponsors included Republican leadership from both the Senate and the House.

The insurance industry, which contributes heavily to, among others, the chairmen of both bodies’ insurance committees, lobbied hard against it.

The industry “pushed back with all of us,” said Rogers.

Kirk McGhee, of the Georgia Association of Health Plans, said his group opposed the bill because “it would have created more regulation,” which he said would have added costs that would in turn drive up prices long term.

The bill died quietly in committee.

“It’s like David and Goliath when you try to do something for consumers,” Rogers says now.

Where to complain

If you have insurance through your job at a small or mid-sized company, or you have individual health insurance:

State Insurance Commissioner

If you have insurance through a large, self-insured company:

U.S. Department of Labor