Northwest Georgia Healthcare Partnership

    Beginning in 2002 and ending in 2007, the Health Resources and Services Administration awarded the Georgia Governor’s Office three HRSA State Planning Grants for the uninsured.  The Georgia Health Policy Center at Georgia State University administered the grants on behalf of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget.
    In 2004, Georgia was awarded a Pilot Planning Grant by HRSA to design a health coverage expansion program.  With the support of the Governor’s Office, four community organizations representing four distinct areas of the state were invited to create community-based coverage plans:

Atlanta: Atlanta Regional Health Forum
Brunswick: Coastal Medial Access Project
Dalton: Northwest Georgia Healthcare Partnership
Forsyth: Community Health Works

    The four communities spent 18 months building coalitions, conducting community forums and focus groups, conducting outreach to the local business, provider, and philanthropic communities, and determining what kind of coverage plan to design.  Three communities – Brunswick, Dalton, and Forsyth – chose to design a three-share coverage program.  In 2006, the three communities were awarded additional funds by the Healthcare Georgia Foundation to continue to develop their plans. To date, the communities have designed a benefit, completed actuarial analysis and initial pricing of the benefit, contracted with the University of Georgia to conduct surveys in each of the three communities with uninsured small firm workers and small employers that do not offer health coverage.  The communities continue to promote the three-share program concept in the 12 counties in which the community organizations have a presence.
    The State of Georgia is currently in the design phase of establishing a statewide three-share health insurance plan (HIP) with state, federal, and private dollars through an 1115 Medicaid waiver.  The plan is currently targeted at workers earning less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level at businesses with fewer than 50 employees that have not offered an employer sponsored plan in the past 12 months.
    Beyond providing the premium subsidy and an administrative mechanism for linking the subsidy to the premium, the state intends to play a limited role in the HIP. There is a desire for creative plan design and competitive pricing, but the state will not mandate either.

Nancy Kennedy, executive director of the Northwest Georgia Healthcare Partnership, receives a commendation from the Governor’s Office presented by Trey Childress, policy director for Governor Sonny Perdue. Serving on the work team to develop the local plan are, from left, Jimmy Lunsford of Hamilton Medical Center, Don Adcock of Adcock Financial Group, and Al Ertel of Alliant Health Plans.