Democrats in Cobb County are still criticizing Gov. Brian Kemp for not supporting a full increase of Medicaid, even though support from both parties is growing.
Kemp spoke to the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce and talked about what he said were his legislative successes this past session. For example, he said he returned more than $1 billion to taxpayers and gave teachers, DFCS workers, and state police pay raises.
Kemp said, “We’ve been able to keep doing these things because we’re responsible about sticking to our budget.”
But the governor didn’t say anything about Medicaid, even though more and more people in his own party are supporting it.
For weeks, Richard Elliot of Channel 2 was at the state Senate Committee meeting on Medicaid expansion. The bill was just one vote away from being put to a vote by the full Senate.
Some Republicans even told Elliot they were okay with the idea.
“You know, some of us are more willing to talk about it. We hear the same comments over and over again. At the time, state Sen. Matt Brass said, “They’re not going away.”
Dem Teri Anulewicz from Cobb County praised some of the governor’s work on Monday, but she argued that expanding Medicaid could help Georgia’s economy.
“I’m sure that fully expanding Medicaid would have an effect. Anulewicz said, “The first thing it would do is bring back to Georgia millions and millions of federal tax dollars that we are sending to Washington, D.C., and right now we are losing.”
But the governor has made it clear that he doesn’t want full growth. Instead, he wants to give his Georgia Pathways alternative more time to grow.
Kemp said, “I just want to thank you all for working with us to make this state so rich and such a great place to work and raise our families.”
Kemp said that he will be in Athens by the end of the week to help start building the new medical school at UGA.
