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ICYMI: Kemp’s Pathways Program Has Spent a Shocking $26 Million Taxpayer Dollars with 90% on Administrative Costs
March 22, 2024
Failed Program Has Enrolled Only 3,500 Georgians, Exposed as Near-Total Boondoggle
New reporting from KFF Health News shows the Pathways to Coverage program, Brian Kemp’s narrow and restrictive alternative to full Medicaid expansion, has already cost taxpayers $26 million—over 90% of which has gone to consultants and administrative costs. In nearly nine months of operation, the program has enrolled merely 3,500 people—a small fraction of the numbers it was projected to enroll and a much smaller fraction of those who would be covered by full Medicaid expansion.
“We always knew Pathways didn’t work,” said DPG Executive Director Tolulope Kevin Olasanoye. “But when only $2 million goes to medical care and $24 million goes to consultants and admin, taxpayers are paying too high a price for Brian Kemp to pretend to do something about the staggering number of Georgians who don’t have health insurance. Failure at this level isn’t something a competent leader would accept, much less promote.”
The $24 million already spent on consultants and administrative costs is just the tip of the iceberg: internal documents show administrative costs are projected to balloon to $124 million over the next four years. The report notes that full Medicaid expansion, by contrast, would reduce state spending by $710 million over two years—and cover at least 359,000 Georgians.
Read the story from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution below:
AJC: Georgia’s Medicaid work requirements costs millions, despite low enrollment
Andy Miller and Renuka Rayasam – KFF Health News; 3/20/2024
- Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s plan for a conservative alternative to Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion has cost taxpayers at least $26 million so far, with more than 90% going toward administrative and consulting costs rather than medical care for low-income people.
- Since July, when the program began, about 3,500 people have signed up, according to state officials. That’s a small fraction of the Georgians who could enroll if the state expanded Medicaid without such requirements.
- The Pathways program is “fiscally foolish and anti-family,” said Joan Alker, executive director and co-founder of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families. She noted that full-time caregiving does not qualify someone for eligibility into the program. “A lot of taxpayer money has been wasted,” she said, “and not on health care for people who need it.“
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