In a letter sent last week, Georgia’s Democratic Congressional delegation called on the Biden Administration to permanently rescind a federal waiver for Georgia’s Medicaid program.
Congresswoman Carolyn Bourdeaux’s office said in a news release that “studies have shown that work requirements only reduce health insurance coverage while failing to increase employment.”
In February, the Biden Administration provided preliminary disapproval of Georgia’s Section 1115 waiver. This most recent letter called upon Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Acting Administrator Liz Richter to permanently rescind the waiver.
“This misguided waiver approach does not in any way respond to the critical need for health insurance of low- and middle-income Georgians, a need only exacerbated by the pandemic and the related recession,” wrote the lawmakers. “We urge you to immediately correct the wrongs of the past Administration and rescind Georgia’s Section 1115 waiver, while restoring the integrity of Medicaid, one of this country’s most critical and vital health care programs.”
The letter also highlighted additional federal funding included in the American Rescue Plan to incentivize Georgia to expand Medicaid, which would result in almost half a million Georgians receiving health care coverage.
The letter was signed by: Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Congressman Sanford Bishop, Jr. (GA-02), Congressman David Scott (GA-13), Congressman Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr. (GA-04), Congresswoman Lucy McBath (GA-06), and Congresswoman Nikema Williams (D, GA-05).
You can read it in its entirety here:
