You can still get a nationwide PPO in Georgia, even where Georgia Access sells none. Here is how travel nurses with a Georgia home base cover contract gaps and stay in network on the road.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber, a Tampa-based broker with licenses in 36 states. Travel nurses who call Georgia home, whether that's Midtown Atlanta, Macon or a small town near Augusta, can arrange their own coverage with me by phone.
Here's the Georgia wrinkle for travelers. Your plan options come from Georgia Access, the state's exchange, and they're almost all HMOs tied to Georgia doctors. Your paychecks come from hospitals in other states. Those two facts pull in opposite directions.
Georgia Access carries 211 individual medical plans this year: 203 HMOs and 8 PPOs. A single insurer sells the PPOs, and only in 71 of Georgia's 159 counties. Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb and Gwinnett aren't among them, so a nurse based in metro Atlanta never sees one.
You can still get a nationwide PPO in Georgia through my office, sold privately rather than on the exchange. A short health questionnaire sets the price, and the network reaches hospitals and clinics in every state you're likely to work in.
An HMO pays outside its own network generally only for emergencies. Picture an ear infection three weeks into a contract in Denver: with a Georgia HMO, that visit is likely yours to pay.
Your income year matters too, because the credit on Georgia Access follows household earnings for the year and travel pay comes and goes. Georgia also lacks a full Medicaid expansion; its Pathways program stops at 100% of the poverty level and requires qualifying work or activities.
When the agency's plan ends with the assignment, that counts as losing job-based coverage. Georgia Access gives you a special enrollment period, typically 60 days. COBRA is on offer as well, though walking away from it later by choice won't reopen enrollment.
Match the plan to the next stop. A Georgia HMO is fine if the break is long and local; it's a poor bet if you leave for Oregon next month.
Next step: While the current assignment is still running, call me and we'll set up coverage for the gap and whatever comes next.
This is the textbook case for a nationwide PPO. Full price on Georgia Access gets you a network you'll mostly use when you're home.
The insurer reads your health answers and decides: approved, declined, or approved with one diagnosis left out. Healthy nurses often end up paying less than the exchange's full rate, with in-network care in the states where they actually spend their weeks. We'll go over what each policy pays before you choose.
Next step: Set up a call, and I'll quote a nationwide PPO beside what Georgia Access charges at your home address.
Inside the credit range, a Georgia Access plan is usually the better buy for the months you're home. The danger zone is lower: under 100% of the poverty level, the exchange credit generally falls away, and Pathways only covers you if you meet its activity rule.
Next step: Walk me through the contracts behind you and ahead of you, and we'll figure out where the year lands before you enroll.
Keep your coverage on Georgia Access. Exchange insurers must enroll you without pricing in your history, which underwriters aren't bound to do. Then choose the HMO whose network includes your home doctors, and plan prescriptions and follow-ups around your weeks in Georgia.
Next step: Give me your providers and medications, and I'll find the Georgia Access plans that keep them in network.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
No. The exchange's PPO isn't offered in Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb or Gwinnett. Healthy nurses anywhere in Georgia can get a nationwide PPO through me on the private market.
Typically only for emergencies.
Yes. Losing agency coverage opens a special enrollment period on Georgia Access, usually 60 days. COBRA is the other path.
Only through Georgia Pathways, which stops at 100% of the poverty level and requires qualifying work or activities.
Your Georgia county, this year's contract calendar, and anyone else who'd share the plan. I'll match coverage to the way you work and price it from your home address.
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