Is Medicare For All the answer to Georgia’s health care crisis?

State Rep. Gabriel Sanchez is introducing the Georgia Medicare for All Act, a bill that would create a new state board to evaluate how to fund health care coverage for every Georgian.

What’s Happening: The bill would set up a Georgia Medicare for All Board to study and develop a funding plan for universal coverage. Services covered under the proposal would include everything currently provided through Medicare and existing state programs, plus community-based care for people with disabilities, dental, vision, and gender-affirming services. The bill would also incorporate the Reproductive Freedom Act.

What’s Important: Sanchez is filing the bill as Georgia’s health insurance exchange, Georgia Access, has shed about 190,000 enrollees compared to last year. That drop came after enhanced federal Affordable Care Act subsidies expired on Dec. 31, 2025.

How This Affects Real People: A 60-year-old Georgian earning $62,800 a year now pays an average of $1,307 a month for a benchmark health plan — $862 more per month than before the subsidies expired. Georgia already has one of the highest uninsured rates in the country, with about 1 million residents under 65 without coverage.

Catch Up Quick: A separate bill, Senate Bill 192, was introduced during the 2025 legislative session. It would have provided state-funded subsidies to Georgians earning up to 400% of the federal poverty level and eliminated premiums entirely for those at or below 200%. That bill never received a hearing. Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II said it could be revived. At least 10 other states are using their own money to partially or fully replace the expired federal subsidies. Georgia is not among them. The state currently holds a $14 billion budget surplus.

The Path Forward: The bill has not been scheduled for a hearing. Republicans control the Georgia General Assembly, and no Republican support for the measure has been announced.

Press Conference: Sanchez will formally announce the bill on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, at 12 p.m. at the South Wing Steps of the Georgia State Capitol. Georgians for a Universal Health Program and other advocates are expected to attend.

“At its core, the Georgia Medicare for All bill is about the kind of Georgia we want to be — a Georgia where no one is left behind, where preventative care, maternal healthcare, dental and vision are guaranteed, and where healthcare is treated as a shared responsibility and good,” Sanchez said. “This bill is our promise that we can do better and that we will fight for every Georgian to live healthy lives without fear of medical debt or denial of care.”