Georgia Delays Implementation Of Limited Medicaid Expansion
Georgia’s plan for a limited Medicaid expansion will not start this week as planned. Instead, state officials have asked to delay its launch from July 1 until at least Aug. 1 as the Biden administration continues its review of the program.
The request came in a letter from Georgia’s Department of Community Health, which would oversee the program, to federal officials last week.
“We understand that [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] is continuing its examination of the status of the authorities approved for the [program] by the prior administration and appreciate the continued discussions,” it reads.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, under Trump administration leadership, gave Georgia’s plan the greenlight last year. But the Biden administration later put that approval on hold.
Federal officials took issue with a key part of Georgia’s program: a requirement that people work or volunteer 80 hours a month to qualify for coverage. They said the COVID-19 pandemic made that “infeasible.”
Georgia later responded to the Biden administration defending the work requirement and vowing to challenge any decision blocking its plan.
“CMS looks forward to furthering this dialogue and completing its review of Georgia’s [program],” an agency spokesperson said in a statement last week about the month-long implementation delay.
Georgia’s Department of Community Health declined to comment.
It seems unlikely that Georgia’s plan will ultimately be allowed to go forward. Last week, CMS blocked previously approved work requirements for Medicaid programs in Indiana and Arizona.
Georgia is one of a dozen states that has not fully expanded Medicaid to all low-income residents, as laid out by the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.
Supporters of full expansion have argued it would extend health coverage to some 400,000 low-income residents who currently don’t qualify for Medicaid and make too little to receive help paying for Obamacare insurance.
Instead, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has pursued his limited expansion plan, making it a crucial part of his health care agenda.
Kemp’s office has estimated that the program would cover some 50,000 people and create incentives for people to work or participate in job-training programs.
His office declined to comment on the implementation delay.
Another critical part of that agenda—a plan to cut ties with Healthcare.gov, the Obamacare enrollment website—has also been put on hold by the Biden administration.
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