Georgia First Calls for More Covered Lives as CMS Temporarily Extends Georgia Pathways Program

September 24, 2025

Natalie Crawford, Founder & Executive Director of Georgia First and Chair of the BRIDGE Georgia coalition, released the following statement today:

“We were encouraged to see that CMS’ temporary extension of Georgia Pathways — Georgia’s partial Medicaid expansion program — newly expands coverage eligibility for parents of young children and decreases the frequency of the program’s work reporting requirements. More covered lives are always good — but we know Georgia can do better.

Even with these changes, the Pathways program will fall far short of delivering the coverage needed to address Georgia’s high uninsured rate. In its first two years, the program has proven to be fiscally irresponsible, having cost taxpayers over $100 million while enrolling a mere 4% of the roughly quarter million Georgians who are eligible.

This extension comes as Georgia is poised to enter a uniquely harmful health care landscape. H.R.1, the recently passed federal law, contains over $1 trillion in cuts to the Medicaid program. Worse still, if the U.S. Congress doesn’t act soon, the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits that 1.4 million Georgians rely on to afford their health insurance through Georgia Access will expire. These upheavals would strip an estimated 500,000 Georgians of their health insurance coverage over the next decade.

Unfortunately, we know that more uninsured Georgians means more Georgians missing out on the care they need to stay healthy and active in the workplace. It also means that our health care system will have to absorb more uncompensated care, which could drive up health care costs for everyone and harm our state’s vulnerable rural hospitals.

Now more than ever, we can and must prioritize Georgians’ health by prioritizing their health care coverage. The solution is not to continue down the same path that has left us with 1.2 million uninsured Georgians and left billions of federal dollars on the table instead of bringing them home to Georgia — we must fully expand Medicaid.

Expanding Medicaid in Georgia will unlock a new Medicaid option for hundreds of thousands of Georgians, while bringing in new critical funding into our state. Georgia First is calling on our state lawmakers to do better for Georgia by expanding Medicaid — because more covered lives means a healthier state and economy.”