Medicaid expansion is one of Georgia Democrats’ priorities but could be tricky

When Democrats take over the governor’s office and the Georgia House, they’ve said their No. 1 goal will be to expand Medicaid. But doing that will be expensive and could be difficult when dealing with the Trump Administration.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Channel 2’s Richard Elliot reports some insist it still needs to be done.

Republican governors for the past 16 years have balked at expanding Medicaid, saying that even with the feds paying for most of it, it would be too expensive for Georgia.

But Democrats insist it has to be done so regular people can get access to healthcare.

Al Denis and his wife Linda, visiting Tucker from Augusta, believe the new governor-elect and legislature should fully expand Medicaid.

“They need health insurance and stuff. It’s just too expensive without it. Everything’s gotten higher,” Al Denis said.

Governor-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms said once again Friday that expanding Medicaid was her top priority, and with several Republican senators expressing support, that could happen next year.

TRENDING STORIES:

• Pilot declares MAYDAY, makes emergency landing in Georgia field
• One of Atlanta’s Most Wanted suspects captured in music studio killing
• Former ‘16 and Pregnant’ star takes plea in Georgia man’s deadly overdose

The current Georgia Pathways is the state’s alternative to Medicaid expansion, but it’s set potentially to expire at the end of the year.

Under full expansion, the feds would pick up 90% of the cost, but Georgia’s 10% could run upwards of $200 million.

Chris Denson of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation worries that the feds might not pay the difference between Georgia Pathways and full expansion.

“And I don’t know if the federal government is actually going to accept increasing, going from picking up 66 cents on the tab to 90 cents on the tab,” Denson said.

Georgia State University public policy expert Harry Heiman thinks the state will have to keep Georgia Pathways for now while the state is transitioning to full expansion.

“I would just ask folks to give the new governor and her administration a little bit of time to work with the legislature to implement some of the changes that she’d like to see, and I look forward to her leadership,” Heiman said.

Helen Butler of the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda believes Medicaid expansion is necessary and that the new administration will find a way to get it done.

“So we’ve got to have Medicaid expansion to make sure people that are, you know, less fortunate that a lot of people are able to afford health care, good health care,” Butler said.

Remember, the Democrats now control the House. The Republicans still control the Senate.

Several Republicans broke with Gov. Brian Kemp and expressed support for some kind of Medicaid expansion. But we’ll have to wait and see what that looks like.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]