Pranay Rana joined Georgia Watch in September 2014 as a Certified Healthcare Navigator for the second year of Affordable Care 2015 enrollments. Pranay is a doctoral student at Kennesaw State University's International Conflict Management Program with a focus on refugee economic self-sufficiency issues. His work during the 2014 open enrollment and special enrollment periods focused primarily on serving refugees and international communities in the greater Atlanta area enroll into affordable care through a community specific service model.

Pranay is a former Lieutenant from the Nepalese Army Elite Forces with specialization in counter-insurgency tactics. He has served as a U.N. Peacekeeper in post-earthquake, Haiti and as a Refugee Resettlement Program Officer in Connecticut before he came to Georgia to pursue his Ph.D. He also went to Nepal with the Carter Center during the summer of 2013 in a supervisory mentorship role for elections monitoring and local governance programs.

Pranay has a Master's Degree in Global Development and Peace from the University of Bridgeport '11 and a B.A. in Sociology and Strategic Studies from Tribhuwan University, Nepal '07. He was awarded the 2011 Bosserman Fellowship by the Center for Conflict Resolution at Salisbury University for his contribution in academia and humanitarian work.

Open enrollment (Nov.15, 2014 - Feb. 15, 2015) for the Federal Healthcare Marketplace is just three weeks away! Georgia Watch is thrilled to announce that for the second year in a row, we will be partnering with Seedco to provide direct enrollment assistance to thousands of eligible individuals and families who are currently uninsured across the state.  

This year Georgia Watch has two Certified Healthcare Navigators on staff to assist consumers, Elise Blasingame and Pranay Rana.  Elise and Pranay are currently conducting extensive education and outreach activities around the metro-Atlanta region. Individuals, families, and small employers are encouraged to set up appointments with our navigators by calling us at 1-866-33-WATCH (92824).  Please come visit our tent at the Chomp and Stomp Festival in Cabbagetown from 10AM - 6PM on Saturday, November 1st.

Georgia healthcare consumers may be interested to know that the Drug Enforcement Agency moved all hydrocodone containing products to the Schedule II list effective this month. Schedule II drugs are more highly regulated. Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) and other non-physician providers in Georgia cannot write prescriptions for Schedule II drugs.  

 This may make it more difficult for Georgians living in rural areas and Georgians needing emergency pain management to get needed prescriptions quickly.  Read more about this issue here, and look for more information about Georgia's practice environment for APRNs in our forthcoming policy report.

Large-scale data leaks have shown us that most people tend to use very easy to remember passwords that are too common to be safe. Passwords like '123456' are the most popular. Our Director of Community Education outlines some easy steps to use password managers and keep your identity safe online.