Georgia’s two Democratic U.S. senators celebrated a small victory after President Joe Biden unveiled a $1.75 trillion spending bill that includes a key provision the Peach state lawmakers lobbied for.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra visited Georgia on Monday amid a battle between state officials and federal Democrats over expanding Medicaid.
They don't qualify for Medicaid in their states, but earn too little to be eligible for subsidized ACA health plans. It's a gap in health care coverage, and some politicians are trying to fix it.
More than one-third of the state’s uninsured low-wage workers hold jobs in hospitality or retail industries, which were the hardest hit during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Missouri Republicans are trying to avoid funding an expansion that would give 275,000 people health insurance. Democrats argue they are pushing ideology over the will of the people.
The Biden administration has shaken up the health care arithmetic nationally, and that could reverberate here in Georgia. For one thing, the incentives for a state to expand Medicaid have become much more enticing.
The Trump administration has given states ways to restrict spending on the government insurance program for low-income Americans. A Biden administration would expand Medicaid coverage.
Missouri is the second state to expand the health care program via ballot measure during the pandemic. Nearly a quarter-million people could get health insurance thanks to the measure.
Advocates for expansion say it would create jobs, protect hospitals from budget cuts, bring billions of federal taxpayer dollars back to the state, and bring health coverage to 230,000 more people.