---
title: "Bottoms Puts Medicaid Expansion at Center of First Budget"
url: https://www.hereatlanta.com/2026/11/07/bottoms-medicaid-expansion-first-budget-priority/
date: 2026-11-07T08:42:20-05:00
modified: 2026-11-07T08:42:20-05:00
author: "HERE City State Desk"
categories: ["Health"]
site: "HERE Atlanta"
attribution: "HERE Atlanta"
---

# Bottoms Puts Medicaid Expansion at Center of First Budget

> ATLANTA, Ga. — Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms says the first budget she sends to lawmakers will spotlight full Medicaid expansion, support for local grocery-tax breaks, housing and school funding as she prepares to take office in January. Bottoms said this week that a governor’s spending plan is where priorities become real, and that expanding Medicaid

*Source: [HERE Atlanta](https://www.hereatlanta.com/2026/11/07/bottoms-medicaid-expansion-first-budget-priority/) — November 7, 2026 by HERE City State Desk*

*From the HERE City State Desk*

ATLANTA, Ga. — Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms says the first budget she sends to lawmakers will spotlight full Medicaid expansion, support for local grocery-tax breaks, housing and school funding as she prepares to take office in January.

Bottoms said this week that a governor’s spending plan is where priorities become real, and that expanding Medicaid stays near the top after Democrats won the House and every statewide office on the ballot. Georgia remains one of a small group of states that never fully expanded the program under the Affordable Care Act.

A full expansion would cover adults earning up to roughly $22,024 a year, compared with today’s poverty-line cutoff near $15,960. Leah Chan of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute said federal rules will also attach work requirements to that adult group in January 2027, whether the state expands fully or sticks with Pathways to Coverage.

Republicans still control the state Senate, so any expansion measure will need bipartisan votes even with a Democratic House majority. Earlier expansion bills died at the Capitol despite occasional bipartisan hearings.

Bottoms also wants to soften federal public-health funding cuts hitting Georgia and supports undoing the state’s six-week abortion limit, while warning that narrow Senate margins could push that fight past the opening session.

Chan said Georgia ranks near the bottom nationally on insurance coverage and called expansion one of the clearest remaining tools to shrink the uninsured rate. Bottoms’ team frames the January budget as the first test of turning campaign health pledges into statute.