ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Republicans shot down a last-ditch attempt by Democrats to expand Medicaid on Thursday in a state Senate committee, frustrating Democrats who say GOP leaders broke a promise to advance the bill.
The Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee rejected the plan on a tie 7-7 vote, after two Republicans and five Democrats voted to advance a plan. The bill called for the state to buy private health insurance for lower income adults who aren’t covered. Private insurance could result in higher payments to medical providers than under Georgia’s existing Medicaid plan.
The measure was presented by Democratic Sen. David Lucas of Macon, who argued Republicans and Democrats should grab federal bonus money that would pay for the first two years of extending coverage.
“We can’t kick the can down the road any more. $1.2 billion is in D.C., waiting for Georgia to expand. But how long will it be there?” Lucas asked the committee.
Republican Sen. Ben Watson, a Savannah physician, argued that Gov. Brian Kemp’s Pathways plan, which offers coverage to adults earning up to the poverty line, might still work. To be eligible, people must document 80 monthly hours of work, study, rehabilitation or volunteering. But only about 3,500 people have signed up since the plan took effect in July, far fewer than the 100,000 that the Kemp administration projected.