Health Insurance Georgia

Welfare Health Insurance Georgia

February 4th, 2008

There are concerns regarding the need for health care benefits that may discourage many welfare recipients from leaving public assistance and seeking employment. Because time limits will force a severance from welfare health insurance Georgia, agencies must be able to address both clients’ lack of awareness of transitional Medicaid benefits and their limited opportunities for employment that provide private health coverage. Without adequate health coverage, former welfare health insurance Georgia recipients, chiefly those with poor health, chronic medical conditions, and disabilities, may be compelled to return to welfare health insurance Georgia in order to meet their health insurance needs.

All welfare health insurance Georgia recipients need health insurance when they exit welfare health insurance Georgia for work. The increasing need for health insurance is particularly acute for consumers with poor health, chronic medical conditions, or disabilities. All of which can require comparatively large medical expenses. Of course, increasing bills is the last thing one would need. We have defined the barrier to employment posed by the lack of welfare health insurance Georgia simply as the proportion of the welfare population that does not receive welfare health insurance Georgia upon exiting welfare. This is either from a private insurance agency, through employer-provided coverage, or through the Medicaid program. Particularly through Medicaid, adult welfare health insurance Georgia recipients may qualify for extended benefits via several routes. Adult welfare health insurance Georgia includes Transitional Medicaid Assistance (TMA), medically needy coverage or, in some states, programs that offer extended health care coverage for people with low income. We dedicate particular attention to transitional Medicaid (TMA), as it is the primary route to Medicaid coverage for adults leaving welfare health insurance Georgia for work.

The estimates suggest that many eligible clients do not receive available Medicaid benefits when they leave welfare health insurance Georgia, either because they are not easily identified by case workers as eligible for these benefits, and/or because they do not know themselves that they are eligible. During the year after leaving welfare, enrollment in Medicaid increases, suggesting that clients are enrolled not at the time they exit, but throughout the following year. Over time, as eligibility for Medicaid expires, more clients rely on private insurance. However, more also go uninsured–estimates show that close to half of former welfare health insurance Georgia recipients were not covered by health insurance three years after exiting welfare. These health insurance needs are particularly acute for the estimated 10 to 20 percent of welfare health insurance Georgia recipients nationwide who suffer from a work-related (physical) disability.
We concentrate our discussion on health care coverage for adult welfare health insurance Georgia recipients. Nevertheless, it is important to note that many former welfare health insurance Georgia recipients and families with low income also face significant barriers to employment because of lack of health insurance for their children, particularly children who suffer from poor health, chronic medical conditions, and disabilities. Children are eligible for Medicaid through several routes, including TMA and expanded Medicaid coverage for children from families with low income. In addition, the recently-enacted State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provides funding for states to develop comprehensive health insurance coverage for children not covered by either Medicaid or employer-sponsored health insurance. Health insurance coverage for children from low-income families is generally available over longer periods of time than it is for adults.

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