Renuka Rayasam, Senior Correspondent, joined KFF Health News in April 2022 from Politico, where she wrote for the magazine, covered Texas policy and politics, and helped launch a daily covid-19 briefing called “Nightly.” She has worked for the Austin American-Statesman and U.S. News & World Report. She also spent six years freelancing from Berlin, Germany, where she wrote for a variety of newspapers and magazines including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal. She has a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University and a bachelor’s in German and political economy from the University of California-Berkeley.
Georgia’s public benefits system has been plagued by problems for years. But processing times have worsened since July 2023, when Georgia launched the nation’s only active Medicaid work requirement program.
Extended-stay hotels are often a last resort for low-income families trying to avoid homelessness. But hotel living can lead to — or exacerbate — various physical and mental health issues for children, say advocates for families and researchers who study homelessness.
The recent shooting at Apalachee High School outside of Atlanta caused more than physical wounds. Medical experts worry a lack of mental health resources in the community — and in Georgia as a whole — means few options for those trying to cope with trauma from the shooting.
For years, federal lawmakers have failed to deliver the money needed to fix derelict public housing, leaving tenants — mostly people of color and families with low incomes — living with mold and gun violence that has had lasting health consequences.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s Georgia Pathways to Coverage program has seen anemic enrollment while chalking up millions in start-up costs — largely in technology and consulting fees. Critics say the money’s being wasted on a costly and ineffective alternative to Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.
