Representative Maydziak presents premium-parity language to cover kidney transplants for some Medicare-eligible Georgians

Representative Maydziak told the committee she was presenting language intended to provide premium parity to Medicare-eligible Georgians with end-stage renal disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis who need kidney transplants.

The measure, she said, is designed to keep patients from having to "spend down to qualify for Medicaid if they want to receive a kidney transplant," and an actuarial review by HMA projects about $6,300,000 in savings to the state Medicaid/Medicare program over the next five years if the change prevents those Medicaid enrollments.

The bill sponsor recalled prior action on related language, saying it had "unanimously passed February 26 as House Bill 323" and crossed over from the House by a 174–2 vote, but that earlier efforts did not prevail on the insurance side. She referenced a letter from the Piedmont Hospital CEO noting the expected premium impact would be less than $2 per member per month if roughly 3,000 people qualified, and cited Kentucky experience where only 26 DaVita patients purchased similar coverage in two years.

Representative Maydziak offered numerical examples for committee context: using an 81,000-member pool and the projected cost, she calculated a monthly increase that works out to about $0.16 per member per month as an illustration of the fiscal impact on premiums.

Committee members did not ask further questions about the bill in the transcript excerpt. No formal committee vote or amendment on this item is recorded in the provided transcript segment.

The sponsor said she would answer follow-up questions and referenced the supporting HMA analysis and a Piedmont Hospital CEO letter that were available to the committee.