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PG A.M.: Georgia Democrats playing hardball to get Medicaid expansion
Your daily jolt of news and analysis from the AJC politics teamCredit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Sen. Gloria Butler (right), D-Stone Mountain, and members of the Senate Democratic Caucus held a news conference at the state Capitol last week to discuss Medicaid expansion.
By Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, Patricia Murphy and Adam Van Brimmer
6 hours ago
Sensing an opening to revive debate over expanding Medicaid, Georgia Democrats are threatening to vote en masse against the prized health care priority of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones if it doesn’t include a pathway to getting more people coverage.
Senate Republicans already have the votes to overhaul the state’s hospital regulations without any Democratic support. But Jones is eager to show his plan to roll back the certificate of need rules has bipartisan backing.
It’s unclear whether Jones and other GOP Senate leaders will make any concessions, but several Democrats said they have met with the lieutenant governor and his aides to discuss options.
Publicly, Senate Democrats have said they’ll only vote for the certificate of need overhaul if it’s packaged with Medicaid expansion. Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler of Stone Mountain said the two “must be done together.”
“If we choose another path or continue pursuing this certificate of need reform, I will not support these efforts. We must pass both — period,” she said. “That’s our offer.”
