Kemp’s State of the State Doublespeak: Kemp Has Failed Georgians on Healthcare

In his State of the State address today, Governor Kemp attempted to gloss over his abysmal record on health care. 

Under Kemp’s failed leadership, Georgia has one of the highest uninsured rates in the country and among the worst maternal mortality rates.

Kemp has refused to expand Medicaid in the state of Georgia, and his signature healthcare alternative has been widely panned as a total failure, only enrolling 2,300 out of 1.4 million uninsured Georgians, leaving hundreds of thousands without care.

And last month we learned that on Kemp’s watch, the state of Georgia kicked nearly 150,000 kids off their Medicaid health coverage, more than almost any other state, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Under Kemp, Georgia remains one of just ten states that has refused federal funding to fully expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and cover an additional half-million Georgians. 

“In his speech today, Governor Kemp referred to insuring 2,300 people while 150,000 children get kicked off their insurance on his watch ‘making enormous strides.’ I’d call it failure,” said DPG spokesperson Alex Yerkey. “Between kicking kids off their health care, refusing to fully expand Medicaid, and choosing to insure far fewer people at a higher cost to taxpayers, Kemp needs to answer: why is he deliberately keeping health care out of reach for Georgians?”

Here are the facts on Kemp’s failed health care record:

• Instead of fully expanding Medicaid, Kemp launched his narrow and restrictive “Pathways to Coverage” program that is covering just a fraction of the people that full Medicaid expansion would cover while costing taxpayers more.

• Of Georgia’s 1.4 million uninsured residents, Kemp’s program has managed to enroll just 2,300 Georgians in six months.

• Kemp has already invested $20 million in taxpayer dollars in his failed health care program, and Pathways is expected to cost Georgia taxpayers five times more than full Medicaid expansion would.

Here is how Georgia would benefit from full Medicaid expansion:

• Kemp has stubbornly refused to fully expand Medicaid, which would cover nearly half a million more Georgians and is paid for by federal funding.

• Georgia would receive billions in federal funding by agreeing to fully expand Medicaid, which Kemp is currently leaving on the table.

• Medicaid expansion would create thousands of jobs each year in Georgia and help rural hospitals stay open.

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