State lawmakers are hearing stories about obstacles to cancer care. A special committee of the House of Representatives is traveling the state to hear about access to cancer care, starting with a meeting in Gainesville, where they heard from practitioners describing the challenges facing providers in rural Georgia.
Rural Georgian face issues like insurers pricing out smaller providers who have less leverage to negotiate than big hospital groups. Additionally, they face the traditional problems such as transportation — some of his patients live 50 miles away or more, medical costs, and fewer people getting screened for cancer in time to catch it when it’s treatable.
Georgia has a higher rate of cancer than the nation, with 472 people per 100,000 versus 436 per 100,000 nationally.
