‘Medicaid expansion is not particular to a candidate or campaign, it’s something that’s needed across the state,’ said Bottoms, the Democratic nominee for Georgia governor.
Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer joined former Atlanta Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms at a church in Marietta recently to talk about expanding Medicaid in the Peach State.
In front of an audience at Bridge Pointe Church on Aug. 14, the politicians discussed the value of expanding the federal program that provides health insurance to low-income individuals in the state to both support lower-income individuals and help ensure hospitals can remain open and operational.
“It’s common sense,” Bottoms said, the Marietta Daily Journal reported. “Even if people don’t need Medicaid, they do need Medicaid to be expanded in the state.”
Georgia is one of just 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid to cover more people as provided under the Affordable Care Act.
“Medicaid expansion is not particular to a candidate or campaign, it’s something that’s needed across the state,” Bottoms said during her campaign stop with Whitmer. “We are hearing stories of people having to travel over an hour to deliver a baby or not being able to access healthcare because their hospitals are closed.”
If Medicaid were expanded, enrollment in Georgia would increase by roughly 671,000 people, the Urban Institute estimated in April 2024, with about 300,000 individuals switching from nongroup marketplace coverage and about 69,000 switching from employer-sponsored insurance. Additionally, around 28% of Georgians who were then without insurance could have coverage. Over 2 million adults and children are currently enrolled in Medicaid in Georgia, according to USA Facts.
On her campaign website, Bottoms says her aim is to expand Medicaid to “raise eligibility for non-elderly, non-pregnant adults up to 138% of the federal poverty level, about $21,000 a year for an individual.”
Michigan expanded Medicaid in 2014 through a program called the Healthy Michigan Plan. The expansion provides healthcare coverage to low-income adults ages 19 to 64 who meet the income requirements.
To help stabilize Michigan’s Medicaid program against federal funding cuts, the Michigan Independent reported in March, Whitmer’s final budget as governor proposed a $780.4 million increase in taxes on tobacco and vaping, digital advertising and online gaming and sports betting.
In her 2026 State of the State address, Whitmer laid out plans to ease residents’ medical debt burden, including capping interest rates, keeping unpaid bills off credit reports, requiring hospital financial assistance programs, and banning debt-related liens or foreclosures. “Even if you don’t get your health care through Medicaid or the ACA, we will all, every one of us, be impacted by these cuts. The domino effects of higher premiums, hospital closures, reduced services, and workforce reductions will impact us all, even if you have good insurance,” she said.
Under the budget bill President Donald Trump signed into law in July 2025, Medicaid faces some of the largest funding and eligibility changes in the program’s history. RAND Health reports that state Medicaid funds will fall by $665 billion over the next decade, and their general funds will be reduced by $86 billion, factoring in new work requirements, provider tax changes, and twice-annual enrollment demands. These changes are estimated to leave 7.5 million Americans uninsured by 2034, the Congressional Budget Office said in October 2025.
Source: michiganindependent.com