In reality, Ms Abrams could not expand Medicaid “on Day 1,” as she likes to say — and likely not even during her first year in office. The state legislature, which has to agree to it, will almost certainly remain under Republican control. But Ms. Abrams, who until last year served as minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives, insists the legislature will have no choice but to accept Medicaid expansion before long. The state has more uninsured people — nearly 500,000, according to one estimate — who would become eligible for Medicaid under expansion than any but Texas and Florida. Mr. Kemp, Georgia’s secretary of state, has echoed the outgoing governor, Nathan Deal, also a Republican, in dismissing Medicaid expansion as too expensive.

Source: New York Times October 20, 2018 15:01 UTC