Gov. Perdue and Lt. Gov. Cagle have both announced plans to introduce legislaton to expand healthcare coverage to small businesses and the working poor.

Gov. Perdue is proposing to spend $50 million in state and federal funding to help small businesses provide coverage. His plan would essentially subsidize health insurance for small businesses and their employees earning 300 percent or less of the federal poverty level. That equates to roughly $62,000 for a family of four, or $30,600 a year for a single adult.

The governor estimates the plan could help insure more than 30,000 Georgians.

The lt. gov. has indicated he plans on creating a series of health clinics for the working poor and a website where people can shop for health insurance plans.

His plan would create a system of primary care clinics aimed at luring uninsured people with minor ailments out of expensive hospital emergency rooms. The website for health insurers, which the lt. gov. labeled the Georgia Health Marketplace, is meant to make it easier for the uninsured to sift through their health insurance options.

I welcome our state leadership entering this discussion and I look forward to working with any elected official who truly desires to provide hardworking Georgians healthcare coverage that is affordable, accessible, and of the highest quality.

Ending Dental Coverage for Needy Children:

WellCare of Georgia and Peach State Health Plan, both publicly funded health insurance providers, have terminated their contracts with dental care providers who specialized in treating poor children.

The problem is that most dentists do not accept Medicaid and PeachCare, thus preventing parents from finding a suitable replacement for Kool Smiles or Help a Child Smile.

Now, over 70,000 will be denied essential dental care which can lead to more serious medical problems-- and increased costs for parents and the state. Although the state Department of Community Health contends there are enough dentists to satisfy demand, 13 parents have filed suit in federal court against WellCare of Georgia, Peach State Health Plan, and against Department of Community Health Commissioner Rhonda Medows. This is an issue that must be resolved quickly before our children suffer more than they have to.

Georgia House Democratic Caucus:
Notes on Healthcare Policy from the Caucus Retreat

As Chair of the HealthCare Policy Committee and a longtime expert on healthcare issues in Georgia, I updated caucus members on the PeachCare for Kids and S-Chip programs. In my presentation, I reported that before the August break, Congress passed two different but great bills.

The House and Senate plans would reauthorize and expand the S-Chip program to cover more children. The S-Chip Program, which provides federal funds for PeachCare, expires in September. However, President Bush has indicated he will veto the legislation and supports a plan that would not even fund the program at its current levels. The hope is that Congress can override the President's veto.

At the state level, I reported that while the Perdue administration's total freeze on enrollment has been lifted, there is still a cap of 295,000 children in the program. It is estimated that 100,000 children are eligible but not enrolled. Georgia has the fourth highest number of children enrolled after California, New York and Texas. PeachCare's budget up to now has relied on redistribution of federal dollars from other states that did not use them in a timely way.

Because of the state's enrollment success we are disadvantaged by the existing federal funding formula favor ing states that have reached a lower proportion of their uninsured children, but the formula is addressed in SCHIP reauthorization legislation. The Department of Community Health says that if Georgia got only its current basic allocation of federal funds at the beginning of the federal fiscal year in October, we would be out of money by the end of March 2008.

Caucus members will continue to monitor events at the federal and state level to ensure PeachCare remains intact and continues to provide quality healthcare coverage for our hardworking families.