Congressman David Scott Issues Statement Reiterating Requests for Georgia General Assembly Reconsider its Inaction on Medicaid Expansion

Greetings,

Yesterday I issued a statement urging the state legislature to expand Medicaid this session. Each year our state is missing out on billions of federal dollars and leaving millions of Georgians without healthcare. My full statement is below. 

While I respect the efforts of Georgia Assembly Leaders to make progress towards expanding Medicaid, yet another year of delay means our state will fail to benefit from more than $3.6 billion in federal funds.

Georgia now ranks third nationally for the highest uninsured population with over 1.2 million residents currently without health insurance. And, expanding Medicaid would automatically cover more than 440,000 uninsured Georgians—a third of the total uninsured population. And, for low-income individuals, Medicaid has the ability to provide a way out of chronic illness and poverty. 

Medicaid expansion would also significantly address the alarming rates of maternal mortality plaguing our state of Georgia, where currently more than half of all pregnancy-related deaths are among Black women. In 2022, the uninsured rate for women of childbearing age in Georgia was 17.7 percent compared to the national average of 10.9 percent. This is simply unacceptable.

Expanding Medicaid will also add to the economic health of our state by bringing in new federal dollars, from us, here in Congress. And, as the U.S. Congressman for the Thirteenth District, I urgently request the Georgia General Assembly to make the right decision by expanding Medicaid today.