Earlier this year, Governor Nathan Deal appointed a Rural Hospital Stabilization Committee to identify "the needs of the rural hospital community and provide potential solutions." Eight rural hospitals in Georgia have closed since 2001, four of them since the start of 2013. Georgia Watch, Georgians for a Healthy Future, and Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, along with 10 other organizations, recently submitted a report to this Committee detailing how expanding Georgia's Medicaid program could be the solution that saves rural hospitals in financial distress.

Georgia stands to gain a federal infusion of $31 billion if the state contributes the estimated $2.1 billion over the next ten years to implement Medicaid expansion and close the coverage gap.  With projected state savings and increased tax revenues this federal money would bring, the net investment on the state's part will be far less.  This new federal money would help create more than 56,000 jobs statewide and generate more than $6.5 billion in new economic activity every year. More than 60 percent of the new jobs and economic activity would occur outside the 10-county metro-Atlanta region, while more than 20 percent could occur in Georgia's rural communities.

At Georgia Watch, we believe that our state cannot afford to not expand Medicaid. We hope that our report will provide the Committee with the information that they need to recommend Medicaid expansion to state policymakers as a solution for Georgia's failing rural hospitals. The full report is available here. 

On November 17, the Supreme Court delivered a big win for Georgia consumers affected by misrepresentations made by used car dealers in Raysoni v. Payless Auto Deals, a case for which Georgia Watch joined Atlanta Legal Aid and other consumer advocates in filing an Amicus Brief in favor of the plaintiff. In this case, Mr. Raysoni claims that he relied upon oral and written misrepresentations from a car dealer that a used minivan he was purchasing had never been in a wreck. Two months after purchasing the van, Raysoni learned that the van had, in fact, been in a wreck and had substantial frame damage which significantly decreased the car's value.