The state of Georgia, led by Republican Governor Brian Kemp is working on legislation that would restrict Medicaid coverage for people who fail to show up to 80 hours of work or volunteering in a month.
The program, which was initially approved by the Trump administration for 12 states, but was later canceled by Biden will be getting into legislation with the state of Georgia and would restrict many Georgians who fail to show basic working hours.
“The best-case scenario is that some uninsured Georgians would get coverage for some amount of time,’’ Laura Colbert, executive director of the consumer advocacy group Georgians for a Healthy Future, told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. “It’s going to be a big headache for the state and for people who enroll or try to enroll.”
It is believed that the program would cost much more than the current standard Medicaid for all program, but Gov. Kemp believes that it is worth enforcing in the legislation.
The per-enroll cost for the work requirement program will be at least three times higher than the regular Medicaid used nationwide, according to Colbert.
Georgia is set to become the only state to have work requirements for Medicaid coverage. #gapol https://t.co/Hzt4cPME94
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) November 18, 2022
After the Trump administration approved Medicaid work requirements for 13 states, including Georgia, the state received approval under a “waiver,” or federal permission that allowed it to run programs that differ from standard rules on Medicaid and the states got the power to shape the Medicaid requirements.
The Biden administration, in the interest of its voters, initially rejected Georgia’s work-requirement program, but in August a federal judge ruled in favor of the Republican state and declared that the Biden administration overstepped its authority. As part of this ruling, the federal government was allowed to appeal within 60 days. Since the Biden administration did not appeal the ruling, Georgia’s path to enforce the program is now cleared.
Many liberal pundits demand that because of the high cost of maintenance, the state should just accept the regular Medicaid expansion offered under Obamacare.
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