Study: 54% of Georgia's Unemployed are Uninsured

By Odette Yousef

Atlanta, GA – More than half of Georgia's low-income unemployed workers are uninsured, according to a national study released today. The numbers, from Washington-based health care advocacy group Families USA, focus on unemployed workers earning up to twice the federal poverty level.

WABE's Odette Yousef reports.

In Georgia, the percentage who were uninsured at the end of 2008 falls in line with the rest of the nation:

POLLACK: In virtually every state the portion exceeds 50 percent.

Ron Pollack, head of Families USA, says one reason is that most states limit Medicaid to people who earn only 50% or less of the federal poverty level. In Georgia, it's 52%.

Also, many unemployed can't afford hefty premiums for COBRA benefits. And if your company folds, you can't even get COBRA. That's what Atlanta resident Julie Sellers discovered when the software development company she worked for closed last fall:

SELLERS: They sent us information about COBRA, and it said there had to be a policy, and then I went and looked on the internet to try and confirm, and it said if there's no company, then there can't be a policy.

Sellers ultimately got a private policy by forming a group with a co-worker.

The stimulus package could help. The House bill broadens Medicaid eligibility. And the Senate is considering subsidizing COBRA premiums for 9 months. The House approved subsidies for 12 months.

Odette Yousef, WABE News.