For example, Kemp’s plan wouldn’t cover someone who cares full-time for a relative with Alzheimer’s or someone who volunteers who isn’t registered with a recognized nonprofit organization. Anyone who is mentally ill but cannot or does not want to go through the lengthy process of federal recognition as a disabled person would also not meet the coverage requirements.
In mid-December, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution, “I think we’ve made our concerns very clear, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic, one we haven’t seen in generations how concerned we are about job requests.” A week later, on December 23, the Biden administration denied Georgia’s job or activity request.
CMS said Friday the office is not commenting on pending litigation.
Courts have ruled that work requirements do not meet the goal of the Medicaid statute, which was to provide health insurance. The Kemp administration has argued that the commitment requirement is not a work requirement.
The rejection actually left Georgia in an unexpected place. Now, for the first time since Gov. Nathan Deal’s administration, Georgia appears to have an open path under state and federal law to extend Medicaid to everyone below the federal poverty line.
When the Obama administration enacted the Affordable Care Act, Republican states rose in protest and refused to extend Medicaid to all poor as the ACA intended. Instead, Democrat-led states held back while Democrat-led states expanded it. Over time, Republican states have begun extending Medicaid to all of their poor.
Georgia is now one of only 12 states that haven’t. One reason is that the Georgia legislature passed a law prohibiting the governor from doing so.
However, lawmakers opened a window in law in 2019 to allow Kemp’s waiver of health care. This 2019 law states that after the waiver is approved by Washington, the governor’s government can implement it without further action by the state legislature. There were just a few caveats, including that Medicaid could only be offered to people earning 100% of income at the poverty level. That would be more than 200,000 currently uninsured Georgians.
On Friday, officials from Georgians for a Healthy Future, an organization working to expand Medicaid, said Kemp should do so now.
“At this point, the governor and attorney general are wasting taxpayer dollars and time that could be spent registering and covering people who are currently uninsured,” said Laura Colbert, director of GHF.
Libertarian groups like the Georgia Public Policy Foundation have argued that labor requirements are the responsible way to spend tax dollars if Medicaid needs to be expanded.
“We still believe the program outlined in the waiver is a better solution than just a direct expansion of Medicaid,” said Kyle Wingfield, president of GPPF. Blaming Kemp for the delay is “blaming the wrong party.”
Attorney General Chris Carr filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia Brunswick Division. It is now up to the Biden administration to respond.
Read Georgia’s lawsuit HERE.
