How the Appointment of a New Judge Could Affect the Debate Over Medicaid Expansion
You may remember back in May 2015 when the Department of Community Health began to study a plan developed by Grady Hospital that would be able to provide health care to more of the poor without expanding Medicaid. This Medicaid waiver program would have used Medicaid dollars to set up locations that would provide care to the uninsured. That investigation lasted three months, until August, when DCH Commissioner Clyde Reese pulled the plug, saying that he didn’t believe the federal government would approve the proposal without a commitment to full Medicaid expansion down the road, and because of the money it would cost the state.
Fast forward to this past summer. In June, Senate Health and Human Services chairman Renee Unterman signaled that she would be open to a discussion of Medicaid expansion. The Savannah Morning News editorialized about the need for expansion. And by the end of August, the Georgia Chamber released the results of a study on the possibility of expanding Medicaid.
Medicaid expansion possibilities haven’t been warmly received under the Gold Dome. The legislature took the expansion decision out of the governor’s hands back in 2014, just in case someone more favorable to the idea than Governor Deal should win the right to occupy the mansion on East Paces Ferry. Many conservative members of the Georgia House pushed back against the 2015 study, and Rep. Jason Spencer of Woodbine was scathing in his opposition to the Georgia Chamber plan.
And that brings us up to yesterday’s news, that DCH Commissioner Clyde Reese has been named by Governor Deal to the Georgia Court of Appeals. Reese spearheaded the 2015 study, and has the knowledge and experience to contribute to a discussion of expansion that could well take place in the 2017 legislative session. As a judge, however, he will probably not want to weigh in. So far, there’s been no indication of who might replace Reese, but the opinion of whomever the Governor selects to run the Department of Community Health will carry a lot of weight in any legislative debate on the Medicaid expansion question.
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Jon Richards
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I think it is time to start calling out legislators like Unterman who keep perpetuating a debate over a program that was intended for the poor and indigent and at this point looks likely to become the ruin of our nation.
Gov. Deal was right to stay clear of the sirens of Medicaid expansion. Any short term benefits are outweighed by the following facts (and why does the Chamber push for it – that alone makes me suspicious.)
Last year the Federal Government spent $1,417 billion dollars out of $3,854 billion, or 37% of every dollar it spent, on Medicare and Medicaid. This was a 9.3% increase over last year’s expenditure of $1,296,731 (million), all-in.
From “the market ticker” ( a financial blog market-ticker.org: )
“Hospital benefit payments for Medicare? Up 8.4% — the bright spot, believe it or not.
Medicare Part “D” (drugs)? Sit down: Up 26.2% to a total of $95.2 billion.
Folks, at this rate of change within the next four years Medicare and Medicaid will consume just over $2,000 billion a year, or $2 trillion — an increase of $600 billion a year in spending.”
So go ahead, keep calling for a free lunch. It might not end up being so free, after all.