Organization says Census data highlight need for Georgia Medicaid expansion
The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute says new Census data highlight the need for the state to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The data show Georgia is among the worst when it comes to residents who have health insurance.
According to the data, Georgia has the sixth largest number of residents who lack health insurance in the nation and ranks among the top 10 states with the highest percentage of residents who are uninsured. Tim Sweeney with the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute says the census figures illustrate the scope of the problem.
“People who are not getting offered health coverage through their work, or certainly are unable to afford premiums if they are offered coverage, aren’t going to be able to afford to just buy individual health insurance policy on the market. And really without something like the Medicaid expansion these Georgians are going to remain uninsured.”
He says the expansion is a good deal for the state because the federal government has promised to pay 100 percent in the first three years of the expansion and 90 percent after that.
“If we tried to do this all on our own it would be substantially more expensive than if we take up the Medicaid expansion.”
But Governor Nathan Deal has come out against the expansion. In a recent interview with WABE, Deal spokesman Brian Robinson says the governor opposes adding more to the Medicaid roles because it’s too expensive.
“Our state taxpayer cost over 10 years is 4.5 billion dollars. We don’t have the money in the state budget to cover our current expenses in Medicaid before the population is expanded.”
Medicaid expansion under the affordable care act is scheduled to take effect in 2014. If Georgia takes part, more than 600,000 Georgians without health insurance would gain coverage.
Reporter Jonathan Shapiro and WABE News researcher Rob Aaron contributed to this report.
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