Who Will Pay Cost of a Georgia “Health Tax?
” By Kirk McGhee The Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) recently announced its intention to apply a new tax on private health insurance. This proposed tax could potentially increase the cost of private health care coverage for hundreds of thousands of Georgians by up to 5.5 percent and open the door to even higher increases down the road. The DCH asserts that health insurers must pay civic rent in the form of a tax in order to do business in Georgia. DCH argues that the tax is necessary because someone must cover the virtually unlimited cost of treating uninsured Georgians who cannot afford private health care. The health and well-being of Georgians is an issue near and dear to the heart of every health plan leader operating in the state. Currently, we shoulder a significant portion of the costs of treating uninsured patients when health care providers have no choice but to pass many of the costs of treating those who can’t pay along to patients with private insurance. Furthe
