Georgia Democrats are hoping to breathe new life into an effort to expand Medicaid, announcing Tuesday they have attracted the support of four Republicans in the state Senate for their legislation.
In addition to support from Democrats, Republican Sens. Carden Summers, Billy Hickman, Russ Goodman and Sam Watson have also signed on as co-sponsors to a bill that would instruct the state to seek a waiver to provide health care for Georgians making up to 138% of the federal poverty level, which is about $41,000 for a family of four.
Senate Bill 50, sponsored by Democratic Sen. David Lucas, is nearly identical to a bill that died in a Senate committee last year amid opposition from Republicans who wanted to give Gov. Brian Kemp’s alternative system, called Georgia Pathways to Coverage, more time to catch on.
Georgia is one of 10 states that has not expanded Medicaid. Kemp’s plan provides Medicaid coverage to adults making below the federal poverty line who work at least 80 hours per month, attend a technical college or perform another state-approved activity.
Lucas said Medicaid expansion would support existing and new hospitals by providing them with more financial return from patients coming into emergency rooms, he said.
“They would not be dealing with (costly) uncompensated care,” said Lucas.
This year’s version is likely to face almost impossible hurdles, as Kemp has emphatically said he opposes a full-scale Medicaid expansion as long as he’s in office.
“The old system is not working,” Kemp said, in a news conference earlier this month. “And the other side, their only answer to this is they want government-run health care. And I am not in that boat.”
When asked Tuesday whether he would support an effort, House Speaker Jon Burns said he is committed to Pathways.
“That gets the job done,” he said.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones has not completely shut down the idea.
“I don’t know where I am on it, to be honest with you,” Jones said on the AJC’s “Politically Georgia” radio show Nov. 7.
There are 23 Democrats in the 56-member Senate. With four Republican Senators voting in support, the measure would still be short of the votes needed. However, more could be persuaded during debate, the Republicans said.
“I voted for it last year because I live in rural Georgia and this would help rural hospitals,” Summers said.
Goodman, who lives in Clinch County, one of the poorest counties in Georgia, said his support of the bill is to “keep the conversation going.”
Almost a quarter of the people in Clinch County live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And nearly 1 in 5 are uninsured.
Goodman said he was moved to his position by reviewing data that showed states that expanded Medicaid have seen lower rates of hospital closures.
“Since 2012, no rural Arkansas hospital has closed without being reopened or replaced,” said Goodman, quoting an interview with Dr. Joe Thompson, who was Arkansas’ surgeon general under Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Kemp’s office has often disputed this information.
Garrison Douglas, a spokesperson for Kemp, posted on X in July that six out of the top 10 states with the highest percentage of their rural hospitals at risk of closing had also expanded Medicaid.
Both Goodman and Summers said they don’t want expansion to be seen as a Republican or Democratic issue.
“There are 40 states that have expanded Medicaid, including red, conservative states as well,” Goodman said.
One potential wrinkle in the plan is the upcoming federal reconciliation process to provide funding for tax cuts and border security, two of President Donald Trump’s top priorities. Medicaid and subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, have been short-listed for the chopping block.
“President Trump knows rural health care in America needs to be revamped and he wants to help,” said Summers.
Republican Sen. Chuck Hufstetler has supported Medicaid expansion since 2014, but the uncertainty in Washington gives him pause.
“We don’t know what the federal government is going to do,” he said.
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