A late proposal to fully expand Medicaid received a surprise hearing in a Senate committee Thursday but was narrowly defeated, with the chairman who allowed the hearing casting the decisive vote to shelve it.
And negotiations also wrapped up Thursday evening over a high-profile healthcare bill that was seen as a potential host for a full Medicaid expansion add-on. Instead, that bill ended where it started last month: with a commission that will look at ways to expand health care coverage.
The whirlwind of developments Thursday seemed to shut the door on any lingering Medicaid expansion talks for this year. The legislative session ends next Thursday.
“There are days in this building that break your heart, and I think that today was a day like that for lots of us,” Rep. Michelle Au, a Johns Creek Democrat, said Thursday evening.
This year’s session had started with new bipartisan chatter about fully expanding Medicaid. Much of that can be traced back to House GOP leaders who signaled an openness to an Arkansas-style model that uses federal money to purchase private plans for those who are eligible. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, for his part, didn’t dismiss it.
But the barrier to those talks was always the governor’s partial expansion program, which was launched last July after being delayed by the federal government.
About 3,500 people have signed up for the program, which has cost the state at least $26 million so far, according to a story this week from KFF Health News. More than 90% of the expenses have gone to cover administrative and consulting costs.
Just last week, Kemp said he remained focused on his healthcare plan, which he described as “a limited Medicaid expansion in a conservative way.” He sued the federal government last month for more time to make the program work. As of now, the federal waiver authorizing the program is set to expire next fall.
Georgia is one of 10 states that have not fully expanded…
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