Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp thought he could block access from residents to the Affordable Care Act’s federal health insurance shopping website, healthcare.gov.
Kemp’s plan, which cost the state of Georgia a whopping $31 million to implement, involved blocking access to the ACA website in order to sell health care plans to Georgia residents directly from private insurance companies. “The state received approval from (the federal government in 2020) to proceed with the implementation,” argued Chris Denson, director of policy and research at the libertarian think-tank, Georgia Public Policy Foundation.
Then President Biden stepped in and kicked that terrible, useless idea back into Kemp’s face.
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According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), the White House sent a letter to Kemp’s office saying that it was ”committed to working with Georgia to make changes to (Kemp’s proposal) to ensure enrollment does not decrease in the State under the waiver.”
Kemp thought he could continue moving forward with his plan as it was approved by former President Trump. Kemp has whined that he’s spent $31 million on his pathetic ‘waiver’ idea that only confuses consumers and puts the profits of private companies ahead of providing consumers with reasonable health care plans.
Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, says the waiver could have effectively locked residents out of an easy way to sign up for health care.
“Consumers will have all doors open to them this fall,” Colbert said Tuesday.
AJC reports that the Biden administration has waited for more than a year to receive adequate answers about how Kemp’s plan will even work—and what would happen to the 700,000 Georgians who use the ACA plans purchased through healthcare.gov.
Biden’s suspension took effect Tuesday.
Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, wrote a letter to Kemp’s office that read in part:
“Georgia should not take any further action to implement the Georgia Access Model as of the effective date of the suspension.”
The Georgia Recorder reports that the state was given three months to provide details to the plan to avoid suspension, but the July response missed the deadline.
Katie Byrd, a spokeswoman for Gov. Brian Kemp, said, “We’re evaluating our opinions based on the CMS’ decision.
Sen. Raphael Warnock has supported Biden’s suspension of the ‘waiver’ plan.
Giving the plan the boot “will ensure that Georgians will be able to keep purchasing affordable health care… and will save lives and save families money,” Warnock said.
Kemp is currently in a hot race against Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams. The two went toe-to-toe in 2018, with Kemp coming out on top, and lots of suspicion about “racially motivated patterns of voter suppression” may have contributed to Abrams’ loss.
Open enrollment shopping begins on Nov. 1 for coverage that starts on Jan. 1, 2023.
