Report urges Medicaid expansion to combat Georgia’s HIV crisis

HIV/AIDS advocates protest in 2018 in front of the Florida Medicaid area office in Fort Lauderdale, FL. In Georgia, a new study says expanding Medicaid would provide millions of dollars of additional services for people infected with the virus.  (Jesus Aranguren/AP Images for AIDS Healthcare Foundation)

Expanding Medicaid would give coverage to thousands of uninsured HIV patients in Georgia and provide millions of dollars of additional services for people infected with the virus, a recently released study says.

The expansion of Medicaid, as outlined in the Affordable Care Act, has been adopted in 38 states, but not in Georgia. Republican elected leaders who control the state government have consistently opposed the move as too costly.

HIV, if unchecked, can lead to the disease known as AIDS, which was once almost invariably fatal. Treatment strategies now exist to block the development of the disease, allowing many infected people to live mostly normal lives.