Governor Kemp Signs Bevy Of Health Care Bills
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp state lawmakers for coming together on a number of health-related measures
John Amis / Associated Press, file
It will soon be easier for Georgia hospitals and clinics to open their doors or offer more services. And those hospitals, the nonprofit ones at least, will soon have to share more information about their finances.
Those are the some of the implications of just two of the 10 health care bills Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law Thursday in Newnan.
He praised state lawmakers for coming together on a number of health-related measures this session and encouraged them to do so going forward.
“We will continue to aggressively push for ways to improve our health care affordability, quality, and accessibility and become a model for innovation,” he said at the signing ceremony at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America’s campus south of Atlanta.
The for-profit cancer hospital is a clear beneficiary of a bill Kemp signed that changes how the state issues certificates of need for health care facilities.
The measure removes a requirement that the facility bring in at least 65 percent of its patients from out of state. Cancer Treatment Centers of America has fought the rule for years.
The new law will also make it harder for hospitals and clinics to object when competitors request permission from the state to open their doors or expand services.
Kemp also signed a bill extending a fee hospitals pay that helps fund Georgia’s Medicaid program and one that allows the state to set up a pilot program to fight the spread of HIV in vulnerable communities.
“We have an issue in the metro area with HIV infections, and there are drugs out there that help prevent or stop it, and we are absolutely committed to that, so that’s exciting,” Kemp said.
The measure is a companion of sorts to a bill the governor signed earlier this month legalizing needle exchanges in Georgia.
Georgia House Minority Leader Bob Trammell says he’s excited to see health care is a topic of emphasis within the Kemp administration.
Still, the Democrat says he’s not losing sight of one of his party’s main priorities.
“The important thing is Georgians, can they go to the doctor? We’re going to continue to advocate for putting an insurance card in people’s pockets, so they have the ability to choose to go to the doctor when they need to,” he said.
Democrats have long pushed to get more Georgians ensured through expanding Medicaid as laid out under the Affordable Care Act.
Kemp has said that’s a non-starter. Though his office is in the process of crafting a waiver that could tweak how Georgia runs the state-federal health care program for elderly, disabled, and low-income people.
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