ATLANTA – Georgia health-care advocates are expressing disappointment in the low enrollment numbers being reported for the limited Medicaid expansion program the state launched in July.
The state Department of Community Health predicted the Georgia Pathways to Coverage program would eventually serve up to 345,000 Georgians, including an estimated 100,000 during its first year. However, the agency reported that only about 1,300 have signed up for coverage.
“Georgia has already invested about $20 million in state funds to launch the Pathways to Coverage program and earmarked another $118 million for the current fiscal year,” said Leah Chan, director of health justice for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. “These low initial enrollment numbers do not match the large-scale investment made thus far.”
“Medicaid expansion would be a more effective way to meaningfully cover state residents and connect them to care,” added Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future.
Under Georgia Pathways, Georgia residents between the ages of 19 and 64 with household incomes up to 100% of the Federal Poverty Level are eligible for Medicaid coverage. The federal Medicaid program covers Americans with household incomes up to 138% of the poverty level, which is $30,000 a year for a family of four.
Recipients of Georgia Pathways coverage also must participate in at least 80 hours per month of “qualifying” activities, including work but also education, job training, or community service.
Health-care organizations and Democrats in the General Assembly have long advocated for a full Medicaid expansion. Many Republican-led states have taken that step, most recently North Carolina. The Tar Heel State, which has a Democratic governor but a Republican-controlled legislature, has announced plans to adopt the federal Medicaid program starting Dec. 1.
Kemp opposes Medicaid expansion for Georgia, arguing it would be too expensive. A spokesman for the governor said last summer there also are concerns that the federal government won’t be able to sustain indefinitely the 90-cents-on-the-dollar match it currently provides states that fully expand Medicaid.
ATLANTA – With Georgia vying to become the nation’s e-mobility capital, the state may be about to embark on an initiative aimed at increasing the number of electric vehicles traveling Georgia streets and highways.
State Rep. Becky Evans, D-Atlanta, is planning to introduce legislation during the upcoming General Assembly session to incentivize state and local government agencies to convert the light-duty portions of their vehicle fleets to EVs.
Georgia taxpayers could save an estimated $312 million during the next decade by replacing 30,000 government fleet vehicles powered by gasoline and other motor fuels with electric vehicles, said Jennette Gayer, executive director of Environment Georgia.
Evans’ bill, which has yet to be drafted, would either require or encourage state and local agencies to switch to EVs whenever possible. The measure is aimed primarily at the cars agency employees use to get around the areas they serve rather than the heavier trucks that primarily use diesel fuel, she said.
The bill is modeled after a new law in Virginia requiring state agencies to consider a vehicle’s lifetime cost rather than just the sticker price when making purchases for their fleets.
“Electric vehicles are more expensive up front, but the maintenance costs are less … especially for people who drive 15 to 80 miles a day and bring back the car at night,” Evans said.
DeKalb County already is all-in with EVs. Robert Gordon, manager of DeKalb’s vehicle fleet, said the county currently owns 37 electric vehicles and has 85 more on order for delivery by the end of the year.
“You cannot beat these vehicles. They work fine,” he said. “They’re here to stay.”
Studies conducted in other states have concluded government fleets switching to EVs would save taxpayers millions of dollars, despite the upfront costs of buying electric vehicles.
In Pennsylvania, the savings would come to more than $360 million over the next 10 years, according to a report released by the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center. Arizona taxpayers could save almost $283 million during the next decade, according to a study by the Public Interest Research Group.
Pennsylvania lawmakers have followed up on those results by passing a law requiring state agencies to replace 25% of their gasoline-powered passenger car fleets with EVs by 2025.
A new law in Arizona requires federal government vehicle fleets based in Arizona primarily in counties with populations of more than 1.2 million to be comprised of least 90% alternative fuel vehicles. The only county in the state that fits that description is Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix.
In Georgia, encouraging government vehicle fleets to transition to EVs dovetails with the state’s push to dominate the nation’s electric-vehicles market. The two largest economic development projects in state history – both announced during the last two years – involve building EV manufacturing plants.
Rivian is investing $5 billion in a facility near Covington that is expected to create 7,500 jobs. The company opened space this week at Atlanta’s Ponce City Market to showcase its products and expects to break ground on the manufacturing plant early next year.
“We’re excited to welcome visitors to our latest Rivian space in Atlanta,” said Rivian CEO and Founder RJ Scaringe. “This space will serve as a valuable hub to connect with the surrounding community.”
Hyundai Motor Group is investing $7.5 billion in an EV manufacturing plant and battery manufacturing facility west of Savannah that is expected to generate 8,500 jobs.
The state Department of Transportation is building new frontage roads and new interstate interchanges to accommodate the two massive plants.
Evans said she is seeking Republican lawmakers to cosponsor her bill, a key to passing it since the GOP controls both chambers in the General Assembly. She said legislation encouraging government vehicle fleets to switch to EVs has generated bipartisan support in other states.
“Virginia has passed this and so has Arizona, and both have Republican governors,” she said.
ATLANTA – Attorney Kenneth Chesebro pleaded guilty in Fulton County Superior Court Friday to illegally participating in an attempt to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results.
Chesebro admitted working with Republican then-President Donald Trump and others to recruit Georgia Republicans to act as “fake” electors in asserting that Trump defeated Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia in 2020 when in fact Biden carried the Peach State’s 14 electoral votes.
Specifically, Chesebro pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents. Under the plea agreement, he will serve five years of probation, pay $5,000 in restitution, perform 100 hours of community service, write an apology letter to Georgia citizens, and testify truthfully at future court hearings and trials.
Chesebro was the second defendant in the Georgia racketeering case against Trump and 18 co-defendants to plead guilty this week. Another former lawyer for the Trump campaign, Sidney Powell, pleaded guilty Thursday to six misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit intentional interference with the performance of election duties for her role in tampering with election equipment in Coffee County in January 2021.
A 41-count indictment handed down by a Fulton County grand jury in August charges Trump and his co-defendants under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act with conspiring to convince high-ranking state and federal officials – including then-Vice President Mike Pence – to throw out the Electoral College results in Georgia and a half dozen other swing states that voted for Biden and declare Trump the winner.
A group of Republican electors recruited by Chesebro and others met at the Georgia Capitol in December 2020 and declared Trump the winner in Georgia. At the same time, the actual electors who had been chosen by Georgia voters the month before were meeting on the floor above to certify Biden the winner in Georgia.
Unlike the other defendants in the case, Chesebro and Powell had requested speedy trials. The two guilty pleas avoided a trial that had been due to begin Friday with jury selection.
One other defendant, Atlanta bail bondsman Scott Hall, pleaded guilty last month. Hall was tied by prosecutors to the Coffee County tampering case.
ATLANTA – Georgia health-care advocates are expressing disappointment in the low enrollment numbers being reported for the limited Medicaid expansion program the state launched in July.
The state Department of Community Health predicted the Georgia Pathways to Coverage program would eventually serve up to 345,000 Georgians, including an estimated 100,000 during its first year. However, the agency reported this week that only about 1,300 have signed up for coverage.
“Georgia has already invested about $20 million in state funds to launch the Pathways to Coverage program and earmarked another $118 million for the current fiscal year,” said Leah Chan, director of health justice for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. “These low initial enrollment numbers do not match the large-scale investment made thus far.”
“Medicaid expansion would be a more effective way to meaningfully cover state residents and connect them to care,” added Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future.
Under Georgia Pathways, Georgia residents between the ages of 19 and 64 with household incomes up to 100% of the Federal Poverty Level are eligible for Medicaid coverage. The federal Medicaid program covers Americans with household incomes up to 138% of the poverty level, which is $30,000 a year for a family of four.
Recipients of Georgia Pathways coverage also must participate in at least 80 hours per month of “qualifying” activities, including work but also education, job training, or community service.
Health-care organizations and Democrats in the General Assembly have long advocated for a full Medicaid expansion. Many Republican-led states have taken that step, most recently North Carolina. The Tar Heel State, which has a Democratic governor but a Republican-controlled legislature, has announced plans to adopt the federal Medicaid program starting Dec. 1.
Kemp opposes Medicaid expansion for Georgia, arguing it would be too expensive. A spokesman for the governor said last summer there also are concerns that the federal government won’t be able to sustain indefinitely the 90-cents-on-the-dollar match it currently provides states that fully expand Medicaid.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) is expanding a planned network of federally funded electric vehicle charging stations. state Commissioner of Transportation Russell McMurry said Thursday.
The state received about $130 million in funding through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program last year to build EV charging stations along Georgia’s interstate highways.
With the program just getting off the ground, only the states of Ohio and Hawaii have executed contracts to begin building the stations, McMurry told members of the State Transportation Board at their monthly meeting.
Ohio became the first state to actually break ground on a charging station with a ceremony Wednesday at an interchange of Interstate 70 between Columbus and Dayton.
In Georgia, once the EV charging stations along the interstates have been completed, the DOT plans to build additional stations along U.S. 27 and U.S 76 with future federal funding, McMurry said.
“We’ve got to get the interstates first … before we jump on these [additional] corridors,” he said.
U.S. 27 runs through Georgia north to south for 356 miles near the western edge of the state bordering Alabama. U.S. 76 runs through North Georgia east to west for 150 miles, extending from the South Carolina line to the Tennessee line.
With planning for the interstate charging stations still in the early stages, McMurry said it likely will be several years before the DOT gets to the additional non-interstate highway corridors.
