Peach Tree Times

Georgia state leaders are pushing for expansions to Medicaid, but critics are arguing whether the end result would be good for Georgians. 

WMGT News reported that Democratic Reps. Matthew Wilson and Miriam Paris have called on Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to expand Medicaid in the state. 

"We would be able to give 500,000 Georgians instant access to healthcare," Wilson said, according to WMGT. "At the same time, it would be 100% paid for by the federal government. And not only that, Georgia would net $700 million and create 64,000 jobs."

Stacy Abrams, a former Georgia gubernatorial candidate, has worked with her group Fair Fight to dedicate more than $1 million in ads to push for Medicaid expansion, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Kemp has previously stated that expanding Medicaid would result in an increased financial burden.

The Georgia Budget & Policy Institute said that in 2014, states were given the option to increase the income threshold for Medicaid to include more adults who make below or near the poverty line. Georgia has not done this. Adults between ages 19 and 64 without dependent children cannot get Medicaid coverage. Georgia adults with dependents need to make below about $7,000 a year for a family of three to qualify.

Approximately 250,000 Georgians' income is too low to get financial help with health insurance on the Healthcare.gov marketplace but do not qualify for Medicaid. Another 219,000 uninsured residents make slightly more than the poverty line and qualify for premium subsidies, but high deductibles or copayments may make the coverage too expensive to use.

A research piece published in late 2020 by the Galen Institute argues against the expansion of Medicaid, making the case that expanding Medicaid actually harmed the people that needed access to the care: "The ACA created a whole new category of recipient: childless, able-bodied and working-age adults." The higher reimbursement for this population discriminates against the traditional Medicaid populations in favor of the able-bodied, working-age adult population, the report said.

The Georgia Public Policy Foundation published an article in April 2020 saying that "Expanding the program intended for the truly vulnerable would add about half a million able-bodied Georgia adults to its rolls at a cost of more than $3 billion per year. The state would be on the hook for 10% of that."

Kyle Wingfield, president and CEO of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, said in a recent column that Medicaid has already become a large burden on the state budget and that the increased enrollment seen in the state has not actually boosted the state's economy nor helped rural hospitals as it is advertised, according to Savannah Morning News.

"The answer is not to sink another $4.5 billion per year, and hundreds of thousands more enrollees, onto this broken program," Wingfield said. "It’s to seek better ways to improve health care access for all Georgians, in a way Georgia can actually afford."

The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute reported in 2017 that 2 million of the state's residents use Medicaid, and that 92% of those Medicaid recipients are children, seniors or disabled individuals. The Institute also reported that Georgia's uninsured rate in April 2020 was 13.7%, the third-highest in the country.