SR 201: Governor Brian Kemp; include full-time care givers for the elderly, sick, and disabled in the Georgia Pathways expansion; urge

Georgia's Pathways to Coverage program offers Medicaid coverage to low-income adults who meet certain work or activity requirements, such as having a job, going to school, or volunteering. This resolution does not change that requirement itself. Instead, it formally urges Governor Brian Kemp to add full-time care giving for elderly, sick, or disabled family members as one of the activities that qualifies someone for Pathways coverage. The resolution cites estimates that more than a million Georgians provide unpaid care to relatives, work valued at over $16 billion statewide, and notes that many of these caregivers lack health coverage themselves. It argues that letting caregivers qualify for Pathways could improve their access to health care and reduce costlier Medicaid use, such as hospital or nursing home stays, among the people they care for. As a resolution, it carries no binding legal effect and simply directs the Secretary of the Senate to distribute copies to the public and press.

• Formally urges Governor Brian Kemp to add full-time family care giving as a qualifying activity under the Georgia Pathways to Coverage Medicaid program.
• States the Senate's position through non-binding resolution language rather than changing any statute or regulation.
• Directs the Secretary of the Senate to make copies available to the public and the press.
• Does not itself alter eligibility rules, funding, or enrollment procedures for Pathways to Coverage.

Family caregivers who provide unpaid care to elderly, sick, or disabled relatives, especially those in low-income households; the elderly, sick, and disabled Georgians they care for; and the state Medicaid program administered through Georgia Pathways to Coverage, along with Governor Kemp's office, which would decide whether to act on the request.

If the Governor were to act on this request, full-time family caregivers could gain a new path to Medicaid coverage without needing a separate job, potentially improving their own health care access while they care for relatives, though the resolution itself makes no legal change and only expresses the Senate's wish.

• The resolution's whereas clauses cite over 1 million Georgia family caregivers and estimate the unpaid care they provide is worth more than $16 billion statewide.
• The operative resolving clause urges Governor Kemp to include full-time caregivers for the elderly, sick, and disabled in the Georgia Pathways expansion.
• A further resolving clause directs the Secretary of the Senate to distribute copies of the resolution to the public and the press.
• As a resolution rather than a bill, it creates no enforceable requirement and amends no section of Georgia law.

1. 2025-02-19Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-02-18Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Sally Harrell (D, SD-040)Primary sponsor
• Drew Echols (R, SD-049)

• Medicaid expansion
• Georgia Pathways to Coverage
• family caregivers
• health care access