Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

Healthy Georgia

"Two-Tier" Solution for Affordable Health Care

Most people who are unemployed cannot afford health insurance. There is also a growing number of middle class Georgians who are employed by small businesses who, because of increasing costs, are no longer able to provide health care benefits to their employees. For these two groups, I propose two distinctly different solutions.

* This new program would provide Georgians, whose yearly income does not exceed $25k per year, a yearly health physical, one primary care visit and one emergency room visit at no cost that would be sponsored by the state.

* For Georgians earning more than $25k per year and employed by small business owners, I propose a "buy in" system. The overall price of the coverage would be based on the average monthly premium of most major health care providers, i.e. Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Kaiser, etc. State Government would then cover half the average cost of coverage for the selected plan. For example, if the average cost of health care coverage for a single female is $130.00/month, under this new program, half of the cost would be underwritten by the State and the other half covered by the insured.

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