Kemp fails to lead Georgia out of health care wilderness
In 2023, the Commonwealth Fund ranked Georgia 45th on health system performance. WalletHub ranked Georgia 48th in its 2024 ranking of health care systems. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s Pathway to Coverage, launched in July 2023, is his alternate plan to expand health care coverage. This alternative is Georgia GOP’s substitution for expanding Medicaid. It is the only plan in the U.S. that demands a work requirement of enrollees.
As of Nov. 1, 5,542 Georgians had signed up for Kemp’s plan. If a full Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act were accepted in Georgia, close to 300,000 Georgians would receive health care coverage, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
At the current enrollment rate, it would take over 40 years to enroll all eligible citizens in Pathway to Coverage, a period as long as the Israelites wandered in the desert before getting to the Promised Land. Is Kemp’s plan enlightened leadership?
RICHARD ZIMDARS, ATHENS
How will tax cuts solve nation’s problems?
In his next op-ed, could Geoff Duncan explain how tax cuts that transfer wealth from the bottom to the top help the vast majority of Americans? Does it ease inflation? Does it give a boost to those who want to pull themselves up? Because it makes no sense to me when he says in his op-ed “Republicans appear to be winning it all” (AJC Dec. 12): “... nothing says America better than apple pie and tax cuts.” How do you pay for the essential services the government provides without it being paid for by debt bought mainly by foreign investors?
Furthermore, the current government, Democrats and Republicans, did, in fact, negotiate a reasonable bipartisan border bill. Could he please explain why it was squashed? I just think that if we are to solve our problems, the discussion has to be focused on the best for the most. And we have to give up our pride and realize that we are all in this together.
JOHN E. DUKE, COLLEGE PARK
