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Three Democratic senators requested the nation’s high nonpartisan authorities watchdog on Tuesday to research the prices of a Georgia program that requires some folks to work to obtain Medicaid protection.
This system, known as “Georgia Pathways to Coverage,” is the nation’s solely lively Medicaid work requirement.
“Republicans are hell-bent on putting mountains of red tape between Americans and their health care,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., head of the Senate Finance Committee, mentioned in a press release concerning the letter he co-wrote. “Taxpayers deserve to hear from an independent watchdog about the true costs of the Republican health care agenda.”
Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock co-signed the request.
The Democrats’ letter asks the GAO to organize a abstract of the prices to run this system—and element how a lot of that has been picked up by the feds, break down the price of this system per individual, and assess how Georgia has used contractors to run this system and the way federal officers have overseen it.
The request comes as President-elect Donald Trump, who supported work necessities in his first administration, is about to take workplace and doubtlessly rework how folks qualify for Medicaid, the joint federal-state medical health insurance program for people who find themselves disabled or have low incomes.
Many GOP-led states have pushed for work necessities in public advantages applications corresponding to Medicaid, arguing that they promote employment. Georgia’s Pathways program requires some Medicaid candidates to show they’re working, volunteering, or finding out for 80 hours a month.
The primary Trump administration authorised work necessities in 13 states. Solely Georgia’s program, which began on July 1, 2023, is in impact. A Medicaid work requirement launched in Arkansas was halted by a courtroom order in 2019.
In November, South Dakota voters gave lawmakers a inexperienced mild to hunt a piece requirement for some Medicaid enrollees. In 2023, North Carolina lawmakers directed the state to hunt work necessities if the federal authorities would approve such a waiver. And a few GOP-led states have indicated they may additionally search work necessities.
Georgia’s program has been a precedence of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and his crew defended this system.
Enrollment in this system, which as of Dec. 13 was 5,903, has fallen far in need of the state’s preliminary projection of greater than 25,000 within the first 12 months.
A spokesperson for Georgia’s Medicaid company, Fiona Roberts, mentioned the prices “increased significantly” due to this system’s delayed launch. Whereas it was authorised by the Trump administration, the Biden administration tried to dam it, leading to a authorized battle.
“State leaders continue to put taxpayer dollars behind their ineffective health care program that has failed by nearly every metric,” Warnock mentioned.
Earlier federal analysis means that the excessive prices per enrollee related to Georgia’s program could possibly be repeated elsewhere. The Trump administration did not correctly weigh administrative prices in state functions for work necessities, in response to a 2019 GAO report. Pathways is slated to run out on Sept. 30, except federal officers grant an extension.
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Democratic senators ask watchdog company to research Georgia’s Medicaid work rule (2024, December 20)
retrieved 20 December 2024
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