Medicaid Expansion And The Georgia Governor’s Race

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September 12th, 2018

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams held a health care policy press conference outside of Grady Memorial Hospital. She calls Medicaid expansion “fundamental” to fixing many of Georgia’s health care issues. Her opponent, Republican Brian Kemp, does not support Medicaid expansion, but favors opening up the private sector market to more competition to lower health care costs.

Emma Hurt / WABE

Health care policy has played a big role in the campaign for Georgia’s next governor. One issue that keeps coming up in that conversation? Medicaid expansion.

Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams has said the first thing she would do as governor is expand Medicaid. That’s the decision each state can make to give more low-income people access to health care. States receive federal funding for it, though they, too, have to pay into the program.

“And you’ll hear me talk about this ad nauseam because it’s the only answer to Georgia’s challenges,” Abrams said at a health care policy press conference Monday. “We have an uncompensated care rate of $1.7 billion.”

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