Georgia’s new report on Medicaid quality, which came out more than a year late, says state officials will focus more on addressing health disparities in the public insurance program.

Long-term care options are expensive and often out of reach for elders and people with disabilities. Part of the president's proposed infrastructure plan would help fund home-based health services.

Missouri Republicans are trying to avoid funding an expansion that would give 275,000 people health insurance. Democrats argue they are pushing ideology over the will of the people.

Georgia’s U.S. senators and congressional Democrats are urging the Biden administration to “fully rescind” a health care plan that federal officials first paused in February – and to do so soon.

Many state Medicaid programs pay out-of-state providers much less than in-state facilities, often making it hard for families with medically complex children to get the care they seek.

Thousands of children in low-income families could soon have an easier path to Medicaid in Georgia after “express lane” legislation passed the Georgia State Senate.

Tuesday on Political Rewind: The Biden administration pauses Gov. Brian Kemp’s plan for a partial expansion of Medicaid. President Donald Trump had approved Kemp’s plan, which ties expanding Medicaid to a work requirement. But now, the Biden administration says the requirement is unfeasible during a pandemic. The Democratic party might push once again for a full expansion of Medicaid in the state.

Federal law requires states to update their plans for improving Medicaid health care quality at least every three years. Georgia, however, published its most recent quality plan in February 2016. It’s at least two years out of date.

The plan, long endorsed by conservatives, would give the state broad flexibility in running its health insurance program for the poor, while capping annual federal funding for the program.

Nine years ago, Georgia reported ample data to the feds on the health care quality of its Medicaid and PeachCare programs. In fact, a federal report at that time praised Georgia’s “proactive role in designing its data systems to support quality measurement.”

But according to a Georgia Health News analysis, for the past two years, Georgia reported only a fraction of the information the federal Core Set requested.

Changes are coming to the way Georgians access health care. But for 2021, anyone without insurance can still find a plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace. 

Open enrollment is available through Dec. 15 from healthcare.gov.

The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg comes just as the Supreme Court was about to hear a case challenging the ACA. It could end Medicaid expansion and protections for preexisting conditions.

Missouri is the second state to expand the health care program via ballot measure during the pandemic. Nearly a quarter-million people could get health insurance thanks to the measure.

Advocates for expansion say it would create jobs, protect hospitals from budget cuts, bring billions of federal taxpayer dollars back to the state, and bring health coverage to 230,000 more people.

Georgia’s Medicaid and PeachCare rolls continue to grow amid the economic devastation from COVID-19.

Newly released June enrollment figures show that Medicaid membership grew by 23,000, while PeachCare, the children’s health insurance program in Georgia, saw enrollment rise by nearly 14,000.