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Handful of rural Georgia Republicans join Democrats to give full Medicaid expansion another go

Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones, an Augusta Democrat, said he believes bipartisan interest in a new Medicaid expansion proposal could propel it to the governor's desk this year. Republican co-sponsors say they at least want an open debate. (Georgia Recorder Photo by Jill Nolin)
Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones, an Augusta Democrat, said he believes bipartisan interest in a new Medicaid expansion proposal could propel it to the governor's desk this year. Republican co-sponsors say they at least want an open debate. (Georgia Recorder Photo by Jill Nolin) Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones, an Augusta Democrat, said he believes bipartisan interest in a new Medicaid expansion proposal could propel it to the governor's desk this year. Republican co-sponsors say they at least want an open debate. (Georgia Recorder Photo by Jill Nolin)

By Jill Nolin / Georgia Recorder 5 min read

A handful of Senate Republicans from rural Georgia have signed onto a new bipartisan attempt to fully expand Medicaid through a conservative-friendly option that gained traction last year after a decade of firm GOP resistance.

Four state senators hailing from South Georgia lent their names to a new Senate bill filed Tuesday that would expand health care coverage through a program that uses federal funding to purchase private insurance for individuals on the marketplace instead of adding more people to the state-run Medicaid program.

The bill would create a program called PeachCare Plus that would expand income eligibility to those who would be covered by traditional expansion, and it would create an advisory commission that would help guide the development of the program.

“We believe that this bipartisan legislation can actually get passed,” Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones, an Augusta Democrat, said at a news conference Tuesday.

Sen. Sam Watson of Moultrie said Tuesday that he is “open to the debate,” and Sen. Russ Goodman of Cogdell made no promises that he would vote for the bill if it makes it to the Senate floor but said he wants to have an “an open and honest debate about it.”