Commission chair says there's no 'single silver bullet' to improving Georgia's Medicaid program

The head of a new commission tasked with recommending improvements to Georgia's Medicaid program said Thursday that she did not see a single solution for all of the issues facing low-income and uninsured state residents.

Caylee Noggle, whom Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp tapped to chair the Comprehensive Health Coverage Commission, made the remarks during its first meeting. State lawmakers created the commission this year after an effort to expand Medicaid fully, which 40 other states have undertaken, fell apart.

Noggle said the commission had a broad range of topics to cover. She cited improving access to care for low-income and uninsured residents "in a manner that is fiscally feasible," expanding health care options and addressing physician reimbursement rates and shortages.

"We do have a lot of work in front of us," said Noggle, who is president and CEO of the Georgia Hospital Association and previously headed the state Department of Community Health, which oversees the state's Medicaid program.

But she warned that she did not see a "single silver bullet that will solve all of our issues," and she urged the eight other commission members to look beyond what other states have done for solutions that will work for Georgia.

"Over the past couple of years, there have been a lot of conversations about ideas in the Medicaid space. But there were few details widely shared about what those models really look like, how they work, whom they benefit and who pays for them," she said in opening remarks. "That is the level of detail that we as this commission need to explore."

Supporters of full Medicaid expansion say it could provide coverage to roughly half a million low-income Georgia residents at no extra cost to the state, at least initially. Kemp, a Republican, has rejected full expansion, saying it would cost the state too much money in the long run.

Instead, he has championed a partial expansion launched last year that requires recipients each month to show at least 80 hours of work, volunteer activity, schooling or vocational rehabilitation. It's the only Medicaid program in the country with a work requirement and has had a dismal year, with only about 4,300 enrollees. State officials had expected tens of thousands of enrollees by this point.

The commission's initial report to the governor and General Assembly is due by December.