Federal court rules Georgia Medicaid program can proceed

ATLANTA — A federal judge ruled Friday that the federal government should not have blocked a proposal to reform Georgia Medicaid.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and other leaders had sought permission from the federal government to change Georgia’s Medicaid program.

The state applied to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for approval of a non-traditional Medicaid plan called Georgia Pathways. The program requires most people getting Medicaid insurance to work, volunteer, or study for a certain number of hours each week as well as to pay a small premium.

In October 2020, while Republican Donald Trump was still president, CMS approved Georgia’s Pathways plan. When Democratic President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, CMS told Georgia it was rescinding its approval of the plan.

Lawyers for the state then sued in federal court last January, asking U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood to block CMS’ rescinding of its approval of Georgia’s plan.

“This case is about whether the federal government must keep its promises,” the original complaint said.

The judge did just that on Friday.

“CMS’ decision to rescind approval for Pathways was arbitrary and capricious,” Wood wrote.

The judge identified several problems with CMS’ ruling.

“[CMS] measured Pathways against a baseline of full [Medicaid] expansion, rather than taking the demonstration on its own terms,” Wood wrote.

And CMS relied on what Wood called an “impermissible factor” in making its decision: health equity. The federal agency also did not give any explanation for the change in policy, the judge said.

Kemp praised the court ruling Friday with a post on his Twitter account.

Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder