Representative Knight Talks Concerns Regarding Health Insurance

Georgia House Representative, David Knight, believes that that the health insurance industry is “unquestionably” responsible for rising health care costs and affecting the quality of health care by interfering with the patient/physician relationship.

Rep. Knight had a personal experience “really opened his eyes and illustrated the true culprit
(the health insurance industry).” Rising health care costs are the result of “simple economic…follow the money and profits.” Physicians and other ... See More health care providers are working longer hours and harder but making less money than ever; they are required to have more administrative and billing staff due to health insurer edicts.

Insurance premiums and co-pays and deductibles continue to rise exponentially, while health
insurance benefits are decreasing. The financial statements of the major health insurance
companies and their subsidiaries show rising revenues and profits.

Physicians have to get an insurer’s prior approval or permission to prescribe medication,
physical therapy, order diagnostic test, order labs or imaging, etc. Rep. Knight believes that
the insurer’s primary motive is to pay out as little as possible in claims. Health insurers have created a complex, chaotic, and constantly-changing system that the average patient doesn’t understand. In addition, there is little transparency in the health insurance process.

Today’s complex health insurance process represents a huge and unreasonable
administrative burden for health care providers (e.g., coding, billing, etc.) Health insurers are directing patients to use pharmacies in which the insurer has a direct financial interest, which is a clear conflict of interest. Rep. Knight will be introducing legislation during the 2018 legislative session to reform the health insurance system in Georgia.

Representative David Knight was elected to Georgia House of Representatives in 2004. He
serves District 130, which includes parts of Spalding, Henry and Lamar counties.
Representative Knight attended both the University of Georgia and Augusta College, earning
a degree in Accounting. He is a Certified Public Accountant, and he has been in practice for
over 20 years.