Georgia senators: Expand health coverage even if states balk

ATLANTA (AP) — With a dozen states rejecting an offer of extra federal money if they expend Medicaid, Georgia's two Democratic U.S. senators are now pushing for a federal workaround.

Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock on Wednesday wrote a letter saying they want the federal government to find a way to provide health insurance coverage to people in Georgia and 11 other states that haven't agreed to expand the Medicaid program.

“The federal government, which already funded coverage for these individuals through the Affordable Care Act, has a responsibility to step in and help these citizens who have been left behind by their state leadership,” Ossoff and Warnock wrote. “We cannot continue to allow Americans with low incomes to suffer any longer just because they live in a state that has been overcome by political obstruction.”

Democrats had tried to motivate the 12 remaining holdouts by offering extra money to states that adopt Medicaid expansion through coronavirus relief. The federal government offered to boost its share of costs in the regular Medicaid program for two years if the states would expand Medicaid to cover more of the poorest Americans. Many able-bodied adults with low incomes are not currently covered, although those making more than 138% of the federal poverty level are eligible for federal health insurance subsidies paid to private insurers through an online marketplace.

In the letter to Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Georgia’s senators said they were working on legislation to create a federal workaround or “pursue other strategies” to provide coverage in holdout states. The two said they want the legislation attached either to President Joe Biden's infrastructure proposal or his proposal to provide additional education and...