Build Healthy Communities
The Priorities
Every Georgian deserves a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. In recent years, Georgia has made critical advancements, including expanding postpartum Medicaid coverage and increasing reimbursement rates for home- and community-based providers. Many Georgians still do not have what they need to thrive. Georgia has the third highest uninsured rate in the nation, and Georgia’s life expectancy is below the national average. To move toward a healthier Georgia, GBPI is supporting the following priorities:
- Improve the current Pathways to Coverage program during the 1115 waiver renewal process while also continuing to exploring more inclusive, fiscally responsible solutions for closing the health insurance coverage gap.
- Adopt continuous Medicaid and PeachCare eligibility for children from birth through kindergarten to keep them connected to critical healthcare coverage.
- Modernize Georgia’s public benefit eligibility and enrollment infrastructure and ensuring equitable pay for frontline workers.
- Strengthen Georgia’s state and local public health system.
- Expand access to supportive housing for Georgians with serious and persistent mental illness by increasing funds for the Georgia Housing Voucher Program.
Bill Tracking
This page was updated on April 4th, 2025. April 4th was Sine Die, and any bill that did not make it out of Georgia Legislature by this day can not become law this year.
Senate Bill 50
Authorizes Department of Community Health to submit an 1115 demonstration waiver for federal approval that would expand access to health care for low-income adults by using Medicaid funds to purchase qualified health plans on the state-based marketplace
House Bill 97
Authorizes Department of Community Health to submit an 1115 demonstration waiver for federal approval that would expand access to health care for low-income adults by using Medicaid funds to purchase qualified health plans on the state-based marketplace
House Bill 178
Authorizes Department of Community Health to submit for federal approval an 1115 demonstration waiver that would expand Medicaid to low-income adults living with HIV
House Bill 258
Authorizes Department of Community Health to submit an 1115 demonstration waiver for federal approval that would expand access to health care for low-income adults by both offering Medicaid coverage to adults earning below the federal poverty level and by using Medicaid funds to purchase qualified health plans on the state-based marketplace for adults earning at or slightly above the federal poverty level
Senate Resolution 201
Urges Governor Kemp to add family caregiving of a sick, elderly, and/or disabled adult as a qualifying activity under the Pathways to Coverage program, which provides Medicaid coverage to low-income adults who are able to meet the qualifying hours and activities requirement
House Bill 689
Creates a flexible local grant program within the Department of Community Affairs' State Housing Trust Fund for the Homeless to provide short-term emergency rental and utility assistance, legal representation in eviction, mediation, and other homelessness prevention supports
House Resolution 847
Creates the House Study Committee on Evaluating Funding for Public Health
Related Resources
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How Medicaid Can Fund Housing Support in Georgia
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House-Passed Federal Budget Legislation Proposes Historical Medicaid Cuts With Serious Fiscal Impacts for Georgia
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Public Has Until June 1 to Comment on Georgia’s Medicaid Work Requirements as Coverage Barriers Persist
This press-release was co-authored with Georgians for a Healthy Future As federal officials consider extending Georgia’s Pathways program ...
Our Comments on the Pathways to Coverage 1115 Demonstration Waiver Extension Notice
On January 21, 2025, Georgia’s Department of Community Health notified the public of its intention to submit an ...
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