Sennock USA Raphael, a Democrat of Georgia, speaks at the Senate trial at the beginning of this month. Warnock and several other legislators commissioned a report of the government’s responsibility office, which stated that Georgia spent $ 54.2 million in less than five years to manage the only Medicaid program in the country with work requirements (photo of Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Georgia spent $ 54.2 million in less than five years to manage the only Medicaid program in the country with work requirements – more than twice as much as issued for health care for registration, in accordance with analysis Published at the beginning of this month by the Government Bureau of Responsibility.
The report suggests that the implementation of Medicaid work requirements will be included in a wide tax and expenses, President Donald Trump signed on July 4.
Under this law, 40 states plus the Colombia district, which has extended Medicaid on the basis of the Act on inexpensive care, must require a low-income expansion population under 65 with income up to 138% of the federal poverty-to work level or involvement in other activities, such as vocational training or higher education for at least 80 hours a month.
It is forecasted that the law will limit expenses on Medicaid It is estimated that $ 911 billion Over the next decade, mainly because the up-to-date requirements for work will push people away. The up-to-date rules come into force on January 1, 2027.
Supporters say that work requirements will encourage people to find a job offering health care. But critics say that most medicaid recipients are already working and that most people who lose their protection will be abandoned because they do not meet reporting requirements.
In October 2020, Georgia received a federal consent to test the requirements of Medicaid work for the initial period of 5 years. His program, called Georgia Pathways, is available to people aged 19 to 64, with income at the level of federal poverty or below, which otherwise would not qualify for Medicaid. Georgia originally planned to start registration in July 2021, but legal challenges delayed the implementation by July 2023.
From May 2025, Georgia announced that 7463 people were saved, much less than 25,000, which the state expected to save in the first year of the program.
According to GAO, between 2021 and June 2025, Georgia spent USD 54.2 million on administrative costs, compared to USD 26.1 million for medical care. About $ 50.8 administrative expenses have changed the state system to determine the eligibility of people and their registration. In addition, the state used $ 20 million, which it received on the basis of the Act on the American Emergency Plan of 2021 to advertise the program.
Georgian officials told Gao that the break of implementation forced them to do two things, raising administrative costs by 20 to 30%. This included changes in the IT system, coordination with other agencies and staff training.
“Each state Medicaid program is different, and therefore the amount or percentage of administrative costs that may require improvement of their systems and implementing new work requirements may vary depending on the state,” said Michelle Rosenberg, the Health Care Director of GAO, in an interview.
“I suspect that some states may require smaller administrative expenses, and other states may require more. But I think this is the best information that we have on how the state experiences can be.”
The Department of Health of the Georgian community, which is supervised by Georgia Pathways for insurance, did not answer many requests for comment.
US Senator Raphael Warnock before Georgia, one of the legislators who demanded the GAO report, said that he proves that the requirements of working in Medicaid are a loss of taxpayers’ dollars.
“This report shows that the paths are extremely effective in excluding working people from health insurance and increasing the wealth of corporate consultants,” Democrat he said In a press release. “If republican politicians seriously gave people to work, they would close the gap of coverage across the country and cut off the government bureaucracy.”
Stateline reporter Shalina Chatlani can be obtained at Satlani@stateline.org
This story was originally produced by Statlinewhich is part of StatesRoom, non -information information, which includes the Ohio Capital Journal, and is supported by subsidies and coalition of donors as 501C (3) public charity.
