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Early this morning, the U.S. House passed a budget proposal that would make the largest cuts to Medicaid in the program’s 60-year history and the most sweeping change to U.S. health policy since the Affordable Care Act. Although framed as “program integrity” and cost-saving measures, these provisions would restrict health coverage, squeeze state funding, and narrow benefits in ways that disproportionately harm Georgia’s most vulnerable communities. Georgia already has one of the nation’s highest uninsured rates (11.4% vs. 8% nationally), and about 2 million Georgians rely on Medicaid/CHIP. The current budget proposal is likely to result in 120,000 – 200,000 more uninsured Georgians, as they lose Medicaid coverage or private insurance through Georgia Access. 

What’s at stake for Georgians

Nationally, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the Medicaid and ACA provisions in previous versions of the bill would increase the number of uninsured Americans by at least 8.6 million by 2034. 

Georgians will experience some of these coverage losses, as 120,000-200,000 Georgians would be expected to lose their public or private health insurance. That number balloons to nearly 610,000 Georgians if enhanced ACA subsidies expire at the end of this year, as scheduled. (Currently, there are no viable proposals to extend the enhanced subsidies in Congress.) Key impacts include:

• Coverage Losses in Medicaid: New red tape in Medicaid (frequent renewals, mandatory paperwork, strict verification) would likely push eligible Georgians off coverage, compounding Georgia’s already slow eligibility and renewal process. 
• Coverage losses in the Georgia Access marketplace: Cutting special enrollment opportunities and raising costs would drive up the uninsured rate, eroding Georgia’s record-high marketplace enrollment (over 1.5 million enrollees in 2025). 
• Financing Strains: The current budget bill largely achieves savings by cutting Medicaid funding by limiting how states finance Medicaid and who they cover. Georgia’s Medicaid budget would be squeezed by the freezing of provider taxes at current levels, a decrease in federal Medicaid funding flowing into our state, and capped hospital payments. These changes would reduce funding for Medicaid services and undermine rural hospitals’ finances.
  

Which Georgians will feel the pain of these cuts first?

Congress’s proposed cuts to health care would move Georgia in the wrong direction. 

The current federal budget proposal is not just a belt-tightening exercise – it represents a fundamental restructuring of Medicaid and ACA policy with real human consequences in our state. In a year when Georgia transitioned to running its own insurance Marketplace and continues to deal with the coverage losses and consequences of the Medicaid unwinding, the federal budget proposal would severely disrupt our health system. For Georgia, that means more uninsured patients showing up in emergency rooms, more families stressed or destabilized by medical bills, and more pressure on state and local budgets to pick up the pieces. The proposed changes to Medicaid also mean stepping backward from goals like reducing maternal deaths, fighting the opioid crisis (which relies on Medicaid-funded treatment), building school-based mental health services, and improving child health outcomes.

We deserve a health care system that’s affordable, inclusive, and built to meet our needs, not one dismantled so that wealthy Americans could pay lower taxes at our expense.

Here’s how you can help

Stand with fellow Georgians in advocating for accessible and affordable health care. Together, we can protect our community’s health. Start by sharing your health care story! 

We’ll continue tracking this legislation and sharing ways you can raise your voice in defense of health care access.