Tim Burgess
Commissioner
Department of Community Health
Two Peachtree St.
40th Floor
Atlanta, GA 30303
October 20, 2005
Dear Commissioner Burgess:
I am writing on behalf of concerned PAGE members across the state and especially in Southwest Georgia. We have been flooded with calls and emails from Georgia educators upset about the impending changes to the State Health Benefit Plan. As you know, effective January 1, 2006, the state’s PPO plan will be administered by United Health Care (UHC). The concerns have arisen due to the fact that UHC’s participating network of providers is extremely insufficient in many areas of the state.
For example, the major hospital for Southwest Georgia, Phoebe Putney, is not on the network of providers. I have heard from educators with heart problems who have said that Phoebe Putney is the only hospital in the area with a heart center. I have also heard from educators who are pregnant who have said that Sumter Regional is not in-network, nor is Phoebe Putney and the only one that is in-network is Palmyra and they do not have a delivery center. I have also heard from educators concerned about the insufficient number of pediatricians on the network in Southwest Georgia. The in-network pediatricians cannot possibly handle all of the teachers’ children in this area.
I have also heard from educators in Northwest Georgia expressing the same concerns that none of the hospitals close to them were in-network and they would have to travel to Fort Oglethorpe or Calhoun to receive services. This puts an even bigger burden on the growing number of Tennessee residents who are employed in Georgia schools.
In short, educators are very frustrated with the fact that they have been asked over the years to pay more in premiums for less service. In addition, they have very real fears about the possibility of having a life threatening emergency and being forced to go to an out of network hospital and pay substantially higher fees because they don’t have an in-network hospital close enough to serve their needs.
It is disappointing that the Department of Community Health and the office of the State Health Benefit Plan have not done a better job of communicating their proposed changes to the people actually affected before making decisions that have significant implications. On behalf of PAGE and our dedicated Georgia educators, I would respectfully request that this matter be given a careful review and the issue of insufficient providers be corrected. In addition, it is our hope that the resolution of this matter be clearly communicated to all educators across the state.
Sincerely,
Jill B. Hay
General Counsel
Cc: Governor Sonny Perdue
Lt. Governor Mark Taylor
John Upchurch
Speaker Glenn Richardson
Senator Eric Johnson
