Cobb Reporter

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock renewed calls for support for Medicaid from state leaders for the program after the June 18 Senate Aging Committee hearing on Medicaid.

Providing health care would enable people to work, Warnock said in an interview posted on Twitter with Ai-Jen Poo, executive director of National Domestic Workers Alliance.

“This week’s @SenateAging hearing reaffirmed just how important Medicaid expansion is to our older Georgians, as well as home health care workers. I’m urging Georgia state leaders to take the necessary steps to implement this commonsense measure," Warnock Tweeted.  

Approximately 2.2 million Americans fall in a “coverage gap” for Medicare, where they fall below the poverty line, but do not qualify for coverage. These uninsured individuals fall into a variety of demographics. They range from 19 to 64 years of age, and come from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds. However, they all reside in 12 states that did not adopt Medicaid expansions within the Affordable Care Act (ACA), among which Georgia is one, Portside reported.  

More than 500,000 of these 2.2 million uninsured individuals are or were employed in essential/front-line working positions during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Portside reported. 

Advocacy groups in favor of Medicaid expansion assert that adopting the expansions in these states would not only help minority groups within those regions, but also reduce racial disparities within healthcare access for Americans. 

The 12 states that have not adopted the Medicaid expansions include Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.