Georgia sues Biden administration over health waiver – Atlanta Journal Constitution

Kemp’s plan would not cover, for example, someone who is a full-time caretaker for a relative with Alzheimers, or someone who does volunteer work that’s not registered with an approved nonprofit. Those who are mentally ill but unable or unwilling to go through the long process to be federally certified as disabled would also not meet coverage requirements.

In mid-December, U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that “I think we’ve made very clear our concern, particularly during this COVID-19 pandemic, one that we haven’t seen in generations, how concerned we are around work requirements.” A week later, on Dec. 23, the Biden administration rejected Georgia’s work or activity requirement.

CMS said Friday the office does not comment on pending litigation.

Courts have ruled that work requirements do not meet the objective of the Medicaid law, which was to provide health coverage. The Kemp administration has argued that the engagement requirement is not a work requirement.

The rejection actually left Georgia in an unexpected place. For the first time since the administration of Gov. Nathan Deal, Georgia now apparently has an open pathway under state and federal law to expand Medicaid to everyone under the federal poverty level.

When the Obama administration signed the Affordable Care Act into law, Republican states rose up in protest and refused to expand Medicaid to all poor as the ACA intended. Instead, while Democratic-led states expanded it, Republic led states hung back. Over time, Republican states have begun expanding Medicaid to all their poor.

Georgia is now one of just 12 states that have not done that. One reason is that the Georgia Legislature passed a law forbidding the governor to do so.

However, the Legislature in 2019 opened a window in the law, for the purpose of Kemp’s health care waiver. That 2019 law says that after the waiver is approved by Washington, the governor’s administration can implement it without any further action by the state Legislature. There were just a few caveats, including that Medicare could only be offered to people making 100% of poverty level incomes. That would be more than 200,000 currently uninsured Georgians.

On Friday, officials with Georgians for a Healthy Future, an organization that advocates for expanding Medicaid, said that’s what Kemp should do now.

“At this point, the governor and the attorney general are wasting taxpayer dollars and time that could be spent enrolling and covering people who are currently uninsured,” said Laura Colbert, GHF’s director.

Libertarian groups such as Georgia Public Policy Foundation have argued that the work requirement was the responsible way to spend taxpayer dollars if Medicaid had to be expanded.

“We still believe that the program outlined in the waiver is a better solution than just a straight expansion of Medicaid,” said Kyle Wingfield, GPPF’s president. To blame Kemp for the delay, he said, is “blaming the wrong party.”

Attorney General Chris Carr filed the suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia Brunswick Division. Now it’s up to the Biden administration to respond.

Read Georgia’s lawsuit HERE.