Georgia Makes Progress With Medicaid Work Requirement Plan | news

The limited Medicaid expansion plan requires participants to work, study, or volunteer at least 80 hours per month.

“Nobody who currently qualifies for Medicaid will be affected by the new program,” Isenhour said. “It is important to note that with this program we are only adding people to the Medicaid lists. Georgia Pathways will extend Medicaid to otherwise ineligible Georgians who meet work, job training, apprenticeship or volunteer requirements.”

About 345,000 additional Georgians will be eligible for Medicaid under the new plan as long as they meet other requirements, Isenhour added. Georgians whose income is below the federal poverty line (currently $13,590 for one person) are eligible for the insurance.

To get the insurance, Georgians must be working or doing other qualifying activities such as vocational training, education, pre-employment programs, or community service. Some participants pay monthly premiums ranging from $7 to $16 depending on income and tobacco use.

Kemp has made the Pathways Plan a cornerstone of its health policy. While 39 states have now enacted Medicaid expansion plans that allow low-income people to receive health care, Kemp and other Georgia Republican leaders remain opposed to full Medicaid expansion, citing concerns about the cost to the state and communities consumer.

Instead, back in 2019, the Republican-led General Assembly approved the more limited proposal to expand Medicaid.

In October 2020, while Republican Donald Trump was still President, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved Georgia’s Pathways Plan. After Democratic President Joe Biden took office in January last year, CMS, along with 13 other states, revoked approval for Georgia’s labor requirement plans.

Although the other states, including Arkansas and Indiana, dropped their labor requirement plans, attorneys for Georgia sued in federal court. They argued the federal government, and CMS in particular, had exceeded their powers by blocking the work requisition proposal.

In August, a US district judge agreed, effectively allowing the Pathways plan to move forward. Although the federal government could have appealed to a district court, it didn’t, opening the door for Georgia to move forward with the new plan.

Some proponents are concerned that the new plan will make healthcare more difficult, arguing that Georgia should instead fully expand Medicaid.

“The Governor’s Pathways program makes it unnecessarily difficult for people on low incomes to obtain health insurance. The program requires workers and students to repeatedly demonstrate that they are working or studying, rather than making it easier for them to go to the doctor and fill out prescriptions,” said Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, an advocacy group.

“Because of the complications of the program, only a fraction of uninsured, low-income adults receive health insurance. Expanding Medicaid would be a simpler and less expensive solution for Georgia and uninsured Georgians,” said Colbert.