At Georgia Chamber Event, Bottoms Highlights Plans to Expand Medicaid, Help Georgia Businesses

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August 6, 2026

CONTACT: press@keishaforgovernor.com

At Georgia Chamber Event, Keisha Lance Bottoms Highlights Plans to Expand Medicaid, Help Georgia Businesses Thrive

Athens, Ga. — Yesterday, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms joined the Georgia Chamber of Commerce's annual Congressional Luncheon to discuss her plans to expand Medicaid, protect Georgia’s rural hospitals, and invest in growing the health care workforce. Keisha also highlighted her plans to support Georgia’s businesses.

Watch Keisha’s Remarks.

Read Below for Excerpts from Keisha’s Remarks:

“Nine rural hospitals have closed because we have not expanded Medicaid in the state of Georgia. I do believe this is one of these issues that can and should receive bipartisan support. Even before January, when the ACA subsidies were cut, healthcare costs were already rising in the state. We had 300,000 people at that point who didn't have healthcare because we hadn’t expanded Medicaid. We had left $700 million on the table,” Keisha said. “Since the beginning of the year, I've heard from small business owners who talked about how their premiums have gone up because the ACA subsidies were not extended, and it's a compounding issue. And when our health care is weak in one community it weakens the entire system.”

“This is an issue that's impacting the strength of our state because we've not expanded Medicaid. Nine rural hospitals have closed. It's anticipated up to 10 more have closed. Even in cases where the hospitals have not closed, we've seen at least one birthing center close. We have seen an ICU unit close. And again, it's about making our state as strong as possible in every category, not just best in business, but best in education, best in healthcare, best in housing,” Keisha continued.

“We are short, not just with our doctors, but also with our nurses. There are things that we can do to help. We can follow the lead of other states by expanding the ability of even our nurse practitioners to do things like write prescriptions, etc. but a lot of this goes back to needing to expand Medicaid because it's causing shortages in our hospitals,” Keisha said. “Our healthcare professionals are burned out. Access to healthcare is limited in many of our communities, and we are competing not just within the state, but we are literally competing nationwide for healthcare professionals.”

“One thing I want to do is create a division for small businesses in our state to focus on micro businesses, those zero to 25 employee businesses. I’d like to break up some of these mega contracts in our state to give other small businesses an opportunity to compete for those contracts,” Keisha shared.

“I do believe that we work best together. Together, it doesn't have to be an either-or proposition,” Keisha said. “We can be a state that's great for our Fortune 500 companies, where you can thrive, where thousands of people across the state are able to work for our big companies. But we can also be a great state for those small businesses, for those micro businesses, giving them an opportunity to compete, giving them an opportunity to access resources that can help their business to grow and survive in very difficult times. Our tariffs right now are hitting a cross section of our businesses especially hard right now.”

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