1. The Affordable Care Act rode a political roller coaster. The law also known as Obamacare survived multiple attempts to repeal it in Congress. But it did not come out unscathed. The White House cut marketing and enrollment time in the ACA exchanges and halted cost-sharing payments to health insurers selling exchange policies. Then, in late December, Congress passed tax legislation that abolished the ACA’s mandate for people to have health insurance, a key provision. Still, in Georgia and nationally, exchange enrollment proved surprisingly robust as the year ended.
2. The opioid epidemic deepened. More people died from overdoses of opioid drugs, which include heroin and prescription painkillers. Gov. Nathan Deal eased rules on the use of the anti-overdose drug Narcan. But separate episodes of street drug overdoses in Middle Georgia, killing at least five people and hospitalizing dozens, showed the problem was rampant – and difficult to deal with.
3. The rural health care crisis continued. Hospitals across rural Georgia struggled to keep their doors open in the wake of closures over the past four years. A legislative panel on rural development called for some ambitious (and potentially controversial) solutions, including extending medical authority to non-physicians, enabling ‘’micro-hospitals’’ and revamping the state’s CON process that determines the creation and expansion of health care facilities.
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