Nearly 800K Could Gain Coverage if Georgia, North Carolina Expand Medicaid
Almost 450,000 people in Georgia could gain health coverage if the state expands Medicaid eligibility to nonelderly individuals with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level, according to an Urban Institute analysis. The statewide uninsurance rate would fall from 14.7% to 10.0% with Medicaid expansion. By geographic area, decreases in uninsurance rates would vary from 3.9 percentage points in the Atlanta area to 6.3 percentage points in the southern area. However, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s victory over Democrat Stacey Abrams, who made Medicaid expansion a core pillar of her campaign in the midterm election, may stymie Georgia Democrats’ long-standing push for full Medicaid expansion. Currently, Centene Corp. dominates the state’s Medicaid managed care market, with more than 1.04 million members as of December 2022.