Georgia’s Republican leaders oppose the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and lawmakers are doing what they can to keep the law from coming to Georgia.
The state is part of the federal lawsuit that is contesting the act on constitutional grounds. Also, both the state House and Senate last week passed bills that would allow Georgia to form alliances with other states on health care — part of a conservative strategy to assert states’ rights and attempt to avoid the federal law.
In another move, Gov. Nathan Deal on Wednesday shelved legislation to set up a commission to begin planning for creation of a Georgia health care exchange.
The federal law gives every state the option of designing its own exchange — an online marketplace that would be open for business in 2014, when almost everyone will be required to have coverage. Deal had urged Georgia to take a pragmatic approach: fight the legislation in court, but also prepare for a Georgia-run insurance exchange in case the law stands.
If Georgia doesn’t create its own exchange, the federal government will design and run its marketplace — something Deal and many other conservatives oppose. The insurance industry and health care providers also want a Georgia-run exchange.
However, a last-minute protest by the tea party movement prompted Deal to back off. He announced that he would instead create an advisory committee to study the state’s options and recommend legislation next year if the law has not been overturned.
Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens also sought an exemption for Georgia last week from one aspect of the new federal law. It requires that insurers spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars collected for individual health insurance policies on claims — thereby limiting overhead and profit.
Hudgens argued that the requirement would damage the state’s insurance market.
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