A handful of Senate Republicans from rural Georgia have signed onto a new bipartisan attempt to fully expand Medicaid through a conservative-friendly option that gained traction last year after a decade of firm GOP resistance.
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.
Within the United States, overall, breast cancer death rates have continuously declined by 44% from 1989 to 2022, which the American Cancer Society translates to about 518,000 fewer breast cancers.
States have been culling their Medicaid rolls since pandemic coverage protections expired last year. But more than a dozen states have also expanded access for lower-income people, including children.
A federal judge has denied the state’s end-around attempt to gain back time lost during the Biden administration’s unsuccessful bid to block the governor’s limited Medicaid expansion program.
More than a million people could get health care if these states would pass laws expanding Medicaid. Most residents want the expansion but entrenched politics stands in the way.
The governor signed into law a high-profile health care measure Friday that is seen as a potential pathway to passing full Medicaid expansion next year — but not before casting fresh doubts on whether another year will change his mind.
A late proposal to fully expand Medicaid received a surprise hearing in a Senate committee Thursday but was narrowly defeated, with the chairman who allowed the hearing casting the decisive vote to shelve it.
A bill introduced Tuesday by a top lieutenant to Republican House Speaker Jon Burns proposes to create a Comprehensive Health Care Commission. That could lead to more health coverage in the future, but not this year.
The lawsuit suggests that Pathways to Coverage should get a pass to operate longer than its intended end date next September. But an error in Georgia’s approach makes that complicated.
Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns said earlier this month a "private option” was being studied. Many Republicans have voiced support for an Arkansas-style model that uses federal funds to purchase private plans on the federal marketplace.
State lawmakers on both sides of the aisle responsible for making decisions around health care policy seem to agree that Medicaid, and whether or not the state will choose to expand it, will be a major issue this legislative session.
House Speaker Jon Burns publicly opened the door to a conversation about fully expanding Medicaid through a “private option” that skirts traditional expansion but still extends health insurance to significantly more uninsured Georgians.
A Georgia Senate committee is recommending that the state abolish its requirement for permits to build health facilities. The Tuesday report sets up a renewed push on the issue that sparked a House-Senate standoff in the 2023 legislative session.
