Sen Ossoff to the Rome News-Tribune: “The Affordable Care Act benefits that the administration ended mean that more than a million Georgians have seen their health insurance premiums double in the last five months. 300,000 Georgians have lost their health insurance entirely in the last five months as a result of a policy choice that the Trump administration made.”

Atlanta, Ga. —  New reporting from the Rome News-Tribune highlights Senator Jon Ossoff’s consistent record of protecting healthcare and delivering for Georgians across the state.

The reporting underscores the tangible results Sen. Ossoff has delivered for Northwest Georgia, including support for healthcare facilities and rural hospitals, federal funding to strengthen manufacturing jobs for thousands of Georgians, and numerous investigations exposing corruption and abuse at agencies and corporations.

“I have made Northwest Georgia a priority since I was elected,” Sen. Ossoff told the Rome News-Tribune.  “For far too long, no matter which party is in power, metro Atlanta has gotten the overwhelming bulk of federal attention and investment, and Georgia’s smaller cities and rural areas have been neglected, and that’s something when I was sworn in I wanted to change.”

Noting the current strain facing hospitals and medical facilities, the reporting also highlights Sen. Ossoff’s focus on “address[ing] the growing need for access to healthcare in Georgia, particularly in the more rural regions of the state.” Sen. Ossoff called attacks on the Affordable Care Act “a perfect storm against rural health” – one made possible by GOP U.S. Senate candidate Mike Collins, who voted last year to gut Medicaid and also voted against extending the ACA critical tax credits that made it possible for 1.4 million Georgians to afford their monthly health insurance premiums. 

Rome News-Tribune: Sen. Jon Ossoff sets his sights on healthcare
By Rachel Hartdegen | August 4, 2026

KEY EXCERPTS

• As summer days come to an end and Georgia voters prepare to return to the polls, Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga. made a stop at the Rome News-Tribune office during a recent visit to Rome to discuss his goals if reelected in the November election and how he plans to serve voters in Northwest Georgia.

• Ossoff was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2021. During his five years in office, Ossoff said he has been dedicated to serving the communities most often overlooked, such as rural communities and smaller cities in Georgia, including Northwest Georgia.
  
• “I have made Northwest Georgia a priority since I was elected,” Ossoff said. “For far too long, no matter which party is in power, metro Atlanta has gotten the overwhelming bulk of federal attention and investment, and Georgia’s smaller cities and rural areas have been neglected, and that’s something when I was sworn in I wanted to change.”
  
• One way Ossoff said he has served Northwest Georgia is by introducing more jobs into the area through facilitating the expansion of a Qcells facility in Dalton and opening one in Cartersville. […]
  
• “As a result of those tax credits, we have seen the construction and completion of new facilities in Dalton and Cartersville and all the jobs that come with it,” Ossoff said.
  
• The facilities in Dalton and Cartersville employ approximately 4,000 people.
  
• In his time as a U.S. Senator, Ossoff has also launched numerous investigations into agencies and corporations to expose corruption and abuse and craft bills to address them.
  
• The “highest-impact investigations,” Ossoff said he led, were an investigation into the mistreatment of military families and an investigation into the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services.
  
• The result of his office’s investigation into DFCS revealed that hundreds of Georgia foster kids were likely sex trafficked while in the care of the state, Ossoff said. […]

• In response to the investigation, Ossoff created a bill that mandated tech companies report abuse and instances of child trafficking.
  
• “My investigation revealed what was happening inside DFCS. I then passed legislation to crack down on child trafficking,” Ossoff said. “As a result of that investigation, I wrote and passed a bill into law called the REPORT Act. The REPORT Act, for the first time, forces big tech companies to report to the authorities when they have evidence of child trafficking or child sexual abuse online.” […]
  
• However, the senator’s investigation not only identified the high number of children being trafficked or reported missing under the care of the state, but revealed other areas of concern.
  
• For example, the foster care report released by Ossoff’s team stated that DFCS failed to meet children’s physical and mental needs, improperly prolonged children’s time in juvenile detention and weakened independent oversight by taking over the selection of members of Georgia’s Citizen Review Panels, to name only a few identified issues. […]
  
• Over the years, Ossoff has directed federal funding to healthcare facilities in Georgia and backed the creation of hospital upgrades, mobile care units and more services, but he said that is not enough.
  
• “We have to be clear-eyed that healthcare facilities, healthcare access, and healthcare affordability have taken huge hits in the last year in Northwest Georgia and across the state,” he said.
  
• Those hits include cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
  
• “The Affordable Care Act benefits that the administration ended mean that more than a million Georgians have seen their health insurance premiums double in the last five months,” Ossoff said. “300,000 Georgians have lost their health insurance entirely in the last five months as a result of a policy choice that the Trump administration made.”
  
• This not only impacts Georgia citizens who are without insurance seeking the care they need, but it also puts a strain on hospitals and medical facilities, especially those in more rural communities, which are left caring for patients with ailments that could have been prevented, Ossoff said.
  
• “What we’re dealing with right now, as a result of the attack on the Affordable Care Act and the Medicaid cuts, is like a perfect storm against rural health,” he said. “It’s already begun, and it will compound and become even worse and accelerate next year.”
  
• An example of the impact is the closure of the labor and delivery unit at St. Mary’s Hospital in Lavonia, with the hospital citing Medicaid cuts as the reasoning, Ossoff said. […]

###