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Caylee Noggle<\/p>\nA commission created in 2024 by Gov. Brian Kemp and state lawmakers to evaluate health care challenges facing low-income Georgians has not met this year, despite the drastic changes debated in Washington that culminated earlier this month with the passage of massive health-care spending cuts in President Trump\u2019s historic tax-and-spending bill.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet the chair of the panel formally known as the Comprehensive Commission on Health Care is set to release a report next week that multiple commission members said reflects the lack of urgency over what many health-care advocates see as a disastrous year ahead for public health as the spending cuts take effect.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Caylee Noggle<\/p>\n
The commission was created to discuss, among other problems, the state\u2019s high rate of uninsured adults, the financial threats to rural hospitals and the growing costs of health care. The commissioners, who are all volunteers, were appointed by Republican and Democratic state House and Senate leaders. The panel\u2019s chair, Caylee Noggle, was appointed by Kemp.<\/p>\n
During the year, Noggle repeatedly told members of the commission, which includes some of the state\u2019s top health care leaders, practitioners and policy researchers, that the \u201ccomplexity\u201d of the congressional discussions that culminated in slashing federal safety-net benefits was why she decided not to convene the state group, according to two members of the commission and an email reviewed by The Current.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Noggle\u2019s decision follows the lead of state Republican leaders who have decided against a special session of the legislature to discuss the repercussions of the so-called big, beautiful bill for state spending. The Current has previously reported that federal cuts threaten one of Gov. Kemp\u2019s signature initiatives<\/a> \u2014 rural broadband expansion \u2014 and lawmakers have raised concerns about frozen money for public schools and health research.<\/p>\n Dr. Harry Heiman, who was appointed by the minority leader of the Senate to a seat on the health-care commission, said he believes that Noggle\u2019s decision not to convene the panel made a mockery of the role that state lawmakers had for the group. <\/p>\n \u201cI take my role in the commission seriously and I believe that our work can protect lives,\u201d Heiman said. \u201cBut it\u2019s preposterous to publish a report on behalf of a commission that hasn\u2019t met.\u201d<\/p>\n A former health policy expert for Kemp, Noggle was instrumental in rolling out Georgia\u2019s Medicaid work requirement policy experiment. She now heads the Georgia Hospital Association, the lobby group that earlier this summer successfully worked to maintain federal repayment rates for hospitals, even as Republicans in Congress have slashed spending on programs that low-income Georgians rely on.\u00a0<\/p>\n