Georgia Republicans seriously consider Medicaid expansion

After a decade of stubborn, partisan resistance, Georgia Republicans are finally ready to consider providing health coverage for their 300,000 or so uninsured state residents with Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. State House members held a hearing last Thursday to hear testimony on the issue.

The legislators heard from officials in Arkansas, an early adopter of Medicaid expansion under then-Gov. Mike Beebe, a Democrat. The officials testified about the significant drop in uninsured rates after expansion and the fact that while 56 rural hospitals in the surrounding states have been forced to close in recent years, only one has closed in Arkansas. “This sounds incredibly good and sensible,” Rep. Lee Hawkins, chair of a House Health Committee, told the Arkansas officials. That’s what advocates for expansion have been arguing around the country and in Georgia for a decade now.