“Pathways to Coverage is falling well short of these commitments to uninsured Georgians. Medicaid expansion would be a more effective way to meaningfully cover state residents and connect them to care,” Laura Colbert, executive director of the advocacy group Georgians for a Healthy Future, said in a statement Friday.

According to Georgians For a Healthy Future, nine rural Georgia hospitals have closed since 2010.

“Until this report, we didn’t know what the insurers were doing. So now we have a baseline. And we’ve got a long way to go,” said Whitney Griggs, a senior policy manager at Georgians for a Healthy Future, a group that pushed for the changes.

“Until this report, we didn’t know what the insurers were doing. So now, we have a baseline. And we’ve got a long way to go,” said Whitney Griggs, a senior policy manager at Georgians for a Healthy Future, a group that pushed for the changes.

“Unfortunately, Georgia has chosen a much more complicated process to expand health coverage for the few folks who are able to get coverage. Even with Georgia Pathways to Coverage in place, Georgians are still losing their health coverage. Work requirements are insurmountable right now and Georgia families deserve access to care without barriers and having to go through complicated enrollment procedures.”
–Knetta Adkins, Georgians for a Healthy Future’s Organizing Manager

“We’ve chosen a much more complicated and lengthy process that will take a long time even for the few folks who get coverage,” said Laura Colbert, executive director of the advocacy group Georgians for a Healthy Future.

The state’s publicly released information for the unwinding has not included a breakdown for how many enrollees going through the process each month are children.  “These disenrolled individuals are likely children and parents in very low-income households, those living in unstable housing, and children who move between parents, grandparents and other family members for care,” said Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, which is a nonprofit patient advocacy group. “It is very likely that the majority of these kids are still eligible for Medicaid coverage but may not find out until they visit the doctor, try to fill a prescription, or have an emergency.”

There was also a notable decline last month in the rate of automatic renewals, which are done with data the state already has access to—like payroll or unemployment data—and does not require the Medicaid enrollee to do anything. The rate went from nearly 49% in May to about 23% last month. “This data includes some very troubling signs for Georgia families,” Colbert said of the monthly data. “The combination of low automatic renewals and very high disenrollments means that eligible kids and families are losing their Medicaid coverage unnecessarily.”

“This data includes some very troubling signs for Georgia families,” said Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future.

“These disenrolled individuals are likely children and parents in very low-income households, those living in unstable housing, and children who move between parents, grandparents, and other family members for care,” said Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, which is a nonprofit patient advocacy group.

“It is very likely that the majority of these kids are still eligible for Medicaid coverage but may not find out until they visit the doctor, try to fill a prescription, or have an emergency,” Colbert said.

There was also a notable decline last month in the rate of automatic renewals, which are done with data the state already has access to – like payroll or unemployment data – and does not require the Medicaid enrollee to do anything. The rate went from nearly 49% in May to about 23% last month.

“This data includes some very troubling signs for Georgia families,” Colbert said of the monthly data released Wednesday. “The combination of low automatic renewals and very high disenrollments means that eligible kids and families are losing their Medicaid coverage unnecessarily.”