ATLANTA 鈥 On a recent summer evening, Raymia Taylor wandered into a recreation center in a historical downtown neighborhood, the only enrollee to attend a nearly two-hour event for people who have signed up for Georgia鈥檚 experimental Medicaid expansion.
The state launched the program in July 2023, requiring participants to document that they鈥檙e working, studying, or doing other qualifying activities for 80 hours a month in exchange for health coverage. At the event, booths were set up to help people join the Marines or pursue a GED diploma.
Taylor, 20, already met the program鈥檚 requirements 鈥 she studies nursing and works at a fast-food restaurant. But she said it wasn鈥檛 clear what paperwork to submit or how to upload her documents. 鈥淚 was struggling,鈥 she said.
Georgia is the only state that requires certain Medicaid beneficiaries to work to get coverage. Republicans have long touted such programs, arguing they encourage participants to maintain employment. have applied to enact Medicaid work requirements; 13 won approval under the Trump administration. The Biden administration has worked to block such initiatives.
The Georgia Pathways to Coverage program shows the hurdles ahead for states looking to follow its lead. Georgia鈥檚 GOP leaders have spent millions of dollars to launch Pathways. By July 29, nearly 4,500 people had enrolled, the state鈥檚 Medicaid agency told 麻豆女优 Health News.
That鈥檚 well short of the state鈥檚 own in its first year, according to its application to the federal government, and a who might have been eligible had Georgia simply expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, as 40 other states did.
So far, the pricey endeavor has forced participants to navigate bureaucratic hurdles rather than support employment. The state would not confirm whether it could even verify if people in the program are working.
Research shows disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic people.
鈥淭he people that need access to health care coverage the most are going to struggle with that administrative burden because the process is so complicated,鈥 said Leah Chan, director of health justice at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.
At an August press event, Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp announced a $10.7 million ad campaign to boost enrollment in Pathways, one of his administration鈥檚 major health policy initiatives. The plan has cost more than $40 million in state and federal tax dollars through June, with nearly 80% going toward administration and consulting fees rather than paying for medical care, according to data the state Medicaid agency shared with 麻豆女优 Health News.
Enrollment advisers, consumer advocates, and policy researchers largely blame a cumbersome enrollment process, complicated program design, and back-end technology flaws for Pathways鈥 flagging enrollment. They say that the online application is challenging to navigate and understand and lacks a way for people to receive immediate support, and that state staffers don鈥檛 respond to applicants in a timely manner.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just an administrative nightmare,鈥 said Cynthia Gibson, director of the Georgia Legal Services Program鈥檚 Health Law Unit, who helps Pathways applicants appeal denials.
Administrative challenges have also undermined a key part of the program鈥檚 philosophy: that people maintain employment to keep coverage. As of July, the state was not removing enrollees for not meeting Pathways鈥 work requirement, according to Fiona Roberts, a spokesperson for Georgia鈥檚 Medicaid agency.
鈥淲e understand that people need to be held accountable to those 80 hours for the spirit of the program, and we intend to do that,鈥 said Russel Carlson, the agency鈥檚 commissioner.
Pathways is set to expire Sept. 30, 2025, unless the state asks the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for an extension. Georgia officials say they won鈥檛 have to make that request until next spring, well after November鈥檚 election. So the state could be asking for an extension from the Trump administration, which approved the program in the first place.
Georgia officials this year to keep Pathways running without going through the official extension process, which requires the state to conduct public comment sessions, gather extensive financial data, and prove that Pathways has met its goals. A federal judge
A CMS spokesperson said the agency wouldn鈥檛 comment on the program.
During the August press event, Kemp said the Biden administration鈥檚 attempt to stop the program in 2021 delayed its rollout and stymied enrollment. A federal court and allowed Georgia to proceed.
People familiar with the enrollment process said Pathways has been mired in design flaws and system failures. As of the end of May, 13,702 applications were waiting to be processed, according to state documents.
The program鈥檚 lengthy questionnaires and technical language are confusing, guidance is opaque, and tools to upload documents are tricky to navigate, according to interviews with conducted for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not an easy, 鈥極h, I want to apply for Pathways,鈥欌 said Deanna Williams, who helps people enroll in insurance plans at Georgians for a Healthy Future, a consumer advocacy group. People generally learn about the program after being denied other Medicaid coverage, she said.
In the online application, people click through pages of questions before they鈥檙e shown a screen with information about Pathways, Williams said. Then they must check a box and sign a form saying they understand the program鈥檚 requirements.
Sometimes the Pathways application doesn鈥檛 pop up, and she must start over. The process to apply is 鈥渘ot smooth,鈥 she said.
Data shows that people who don鈥檛 earn enough to qualify for free ACA plans but also make too much for Medicaid are disproportionately people of color. Pathways offers Medicaid coverage to adults earning up to the federal poverty level: $15,060 for an individual or $31,200 for a family of four.
Some people eligible for Pathways who work in retail or restaurants with fluctuating hours are nervous they can鈥檛 meet requirements every month, Williams said.
Many current enrollees don鈥檛 know how to upload documents, and the website sometimes stops working, said Jahan Becham, an employment specialist for Pathways at Amerigroup Community Care. Or people just forget.
Every month Becham gets a list of 200 to 300 enrollees who haven鈥檛 submitted their hours. 鈥淚t is something new, and not many people are used to this,鈥 Becham said.
鈥淚 would get reminders,鈥 said Taylor, who attended the event for enrollees in August. 鈥淚 just didn鈥檛 know how.鈥
In a June 2023 meeting with Georgia Medicaid staffers weeks before the program launched, federal officials questioned why the state wasn鈥檛 automatically verifying eligibility with existing data sources, according to meeting minutes 麻豆女优 Health News obtained through a state open-records request. Georgia officials said they were unsure when they鈥檇 be able to simplify the verification process.
Many potential participants face improper denials, advocates said. Gibson, at the Georgia Legal Services Program, said not enough workers are trained to properly evaluate applications.
Fewer than 1 in 5 people who have their Pathways applications processed had been accepted into the program as of May, according to a 麻豆女优 Health News analysis of state data. Roberts, with the state, said people were denied because they earned too much, didn鈥檛 meet requirements, or didn鈥檛 complete the paperwork.
A full-time graduate student was wrongly blocked from the program, and in February a state administrative judge be reconsidered. In another case, a 64-year-old woman who couldn鈥檛 work because she was her disabled husband鈥檚 full-time caregiver would not qualify for Pathways.
Despite the challenges, state records from May show no individuals were removed from the program since it launched for failing to meet work requirements.
Georgia鈥檚 experiment comes after a 2018 effort in Arkansas to implement work requirements on an existing Medicaid expansion population led to 18,000 people losing coverage, many of whom either met requirements or would have been exempted.
Taylor found out about Pathways when she applied for food stamps last year. It wasn鈥檛 until August that she learned she could submit her school schedule to meet the qualifying hours requirement. With a full Medicaid expansion, Taylor would have been eligible for health coverage without the extra effort. But, for her, it鈥檚 still worth it.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important to have health insurance,鈥 said Taylor, who has been to the dentist several times and plans to visit a doctor. 鈥淚鈥檓 glad I have it.鈥
