One of the components of the 2009 Affordable Healthcare Act (aka: Obamacare) was the expansion of the Medicaid program. Medicaid, which provides free or low-cost health care for some low-income people, families and children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disabilities, was incorporated in Obamacare to expand the reach of the program. Because Medicaid is jointly run by the federal and state governments, Obamacare promised to pick up the largest percentage of the cost increase that would incur, minimizing financial impacts on the states.
However, some states, led by Republican governors and state legislatures, decided that they did not want the Medicaid expansion; thus, keeping a percentage of their population uninsured. Georgia, my current home state, declined expansion and now has over 600,000 uninsured. Georgia has the second-highest rate of uninsured in the country, at 18 percent of the nonelderly population. This number of uninsured has led to the closing of six hospitals statewide serving rural communities. In 2014, the Georgia legislature took steps to ensure that they remain second to Texas in the highest number of uninsured. That year, when it appeared that a Democrat might be elected Governor, the Republican controlled legislature removed the Governor’s authority to unilaterally expand Medicaid.
A recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial points out that Georgia has now put its citizens in a position, relative to health care, that it will be unable to get out of gracefully or cheaply. The link to the editorial is here (be warned that the online AJC is subscription based).
