Georgia Health News

By: Andy Miller

The potential impact from Medicaid expansion would be bigger in rural Georgia than in urban areas of the state, according to a new report released Tuesday. Medicaid expansion would benefit low-income people across the state, said the report, by Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families and the University of North Carolina’s Rural Health Project. But the rural Georgia rate of uninsured low-income residents, at 38 percent, reflects the higher potential coverage gain for those areas of the state, versus a 30 percent uninsured rate in urban areas.

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Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown Center for Children and Families and a professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy, told GHN on Tuesday that many of the rural uninsured are working in seasonal employment or in low-wage jobs that don’t offer coverage. Medicaid expansion would buttress the finances of rural hospitals and other medical providers, added Alker, a co-author of the report. Access to rural health providers is especially important to women of child-bearing age and those with chronic conditions such as asthma, she said.

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“Overall, the experience of Medicaid expansion states demonstrates the great opportunity for Georgia,” said Jack Hoadley, lead author of the report. “Not only does Georgia have the chance to reduce the number of uninsured adults overall, but it has a significant opportunity to bring down the uninsured rate in small towns and rural areas and narrow the gap between metro and rural areas.”

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