Official Figures Overstate Fiscal Impact of Medicaid Expansion

State officials claim Medicaid expansion is unaffordable by overstating the real cost of covering newly eligible Georgians.  State estimates claim it will cost $4.5 billion to expand Medicaid. But the official estimate includes more than $2 billion of future costs that are not caused by Medicaid expansion. Removing cost increases that occur with our without expansion drops the ten-year state share to $2.1 billion, or barely a 1 percent increase in Georgia Medicaid spending over the next decade.  Download the fact sheet.