Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s plan for a conservative alternative to Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion has cost taxpayers at least $26 million so far, with more than 90% going toward administrative and consulting costs rather than medical care for low-income people.
Kemp’s Georgia Pathways to Coverage offers government health insurance to people earning up to the federal poverty level — $15,060 for an individual adult — if they can document that they’re working, in school, or performing other qualifying activities.
Since July, when the program began, about 3,500 people have signed up, according to state officials. That’s a small fraction of the Georgians who could enroll if the state expanded Medicaid without such requirements.
Republican leaders in several states have sought to require that people who are eligible for Medicaid through expansion work, arguing the health program for low-income Americans shouldn’t be a handout. Kemp’s experiment, aimed at single adults with low incomes who aren’t already eligible for Medicaid, is the only current effort to survive legal challenges. But critics say it creates obstacles for people in need of health care while wasting taxpayer dollars on technology, consultants, and attorney’s fees.
The Pathways program is “fiscally foolish and anti-family,” said Joan Alker, executive director and co-founder of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families. She noted th …
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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s plan for a conservative alternative to Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion has cost taxpayers at least $26 million so far, with more than 90% going toward administrative and consulting costs rather than medical care for low-income people.
Kemp’s Georgia Pathways to Coverage offers government health insurance to people earning up to the federal poverty level — $15,060 for an individual adult — if they can document that they’re working, in school, or performing other qualifying activities.
Since July, when the program began, about 3,500 people have signed up, according to state officials. That’s a small fraction of the Georgians who could enroll if the state expanded Medicaid without such requirements.
Republican leaders in several states have sought to require that people who are eligible for Medicaid through expansion work, arguing the health program for low-income Americans shouldn’t be a handout. Kemp’s experiment, aimed at single adults with low incomes who aren’t already eligible for Medicaid, is the only current effort to survive legal challenges. But critics say it creates obstacles for people in need of health care while wasting taxpayer dollars on technology, consultants, and attorney’s fees.
The Pathways program is “fiscally foolish and anti-family,” said Joan Alker, executive director and co-founder of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families. She noted th …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]