- Associated Press - Monday, May 6, 2019

ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia is seeking proposals to develop a Medicaid waiver that Republican Gov. Brian Kemp says will make health care more affordable and accessible, the governor’s office said Monday.

If approved by the federal government, the waiver would allow Georgia to expand Medicaid more conservatively than federal rules typically allow.

The Department of Community Health asked six consulting firms to submit proposals for waivers addressing Georgia’s Medicaid program and private health insurance. A news release from Kemp’s office said officials are aiming to submit them to the federal government by the end of the year.

The six firms - Accenture, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, McKinsey & Company and Public Consulting Group - were chosen in part based on experience developing waivers in other states.

A bill that Kemp signed in March gave his office wide leeway to seek a waiver that reshapes the state’s health care system. That law caps eligibility for any expansion to those at or below the federal poverty level, limiting the number of Georgians who could ultimately be covered.

In addition to the Medicaid waiver, the law would allow Kemp’s office to apply for another waiver aimed at helping to stabilize prices in Georgia’s private insurance markets.

Democrats previously criticized Kemp’s proposal for covering fewer people and costing more than a full Medicaid expansion, which they support.

Georgia is one of 14 states that haven’t fully expanded Medicaid under the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

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