FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                 Monday, April 13, 2026

CONTACT: press@keishaforgovernor.com

Keisha’s Plan Will Lower Prescription Drug Costs, Address Rising Premiums, Protect Health Care in Rural Georgia, End Preventable Maternal Deaths, and Recruit Health Care Workers

ATLANTA — Democratic candidate for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms held a roundtable in Atlanta with health care providers and Georgians impacted by rising health care costs to announce her plan to expand affordable health care and make Georgia’s health care system work better for patients, families, and providers.

Keisha’s CARE Plan for a Healthier Georgia will lower costs for Georgians by expanding Medicaid, taking action to lower premiums, and establishing the Georgia Rx Savings Board, an independent affordability board that will lower prescription drug costs and give Georgians price transparency. Her plan will also protect health care in rural communities by strengthening reimbursements, expanding broadband to support telehealth and mobile health care operators, and making investments to grow the rural healthcare workforce.

As governor, Keisha will also eliminate preventable maternal deaths and expand reproductive health care options, including by repealing the 2022 abortion legislation and restoring Georgia to a Roe-era standard. Additionally, Keisha will invest in recruiting and retaining health care workers by building residency and training partnerships and pushing for increased wages.

“Health care is too expensive for too many Georgians,” said Bottoms. “Georgians in every community across our state are dealing with Republican leaders’ refusal to expand Medicaid and Donald Trump’s cuts that put health care at risk for nearly 1.5 million Georgians. As governor, I will take action to lower health care costs for Georgians, expand access to the healthcare services that Georgians need, and recruit more healthcare workers across the state.”

Read more on Keisha’s CARE Plan for a Healthier Georgia:

• Cut Costs and Waste

  • Expand Medicaid and raise eligibility for non-elderly, non-pregnant adults up to 138% of the federal poverty level, covering hundreds of thousands of Georgians.

    • Keisha will end Georgia Pathways and replace it with a simpler, proven approach that actually gets eligible Georgians insured instead of forcing them through paperwork hurdles.

  • Lower premiums and protect consumers through Georgia Access. Keisha will strengthen Georgia Access by maximizing enrollment, protecting families from junk plans, and ensuring no one loses coverage because of paperwork.

    • Pursue targeted state premium support and other backstops to help keep costs low and prevent coverage loss for Georgians who rely on the ACA.

  • Simplify Georgia Gateway and state notices, reduce documentation hurdles, and partner with trusted community organizations to provide hands-on help, especially in rural and high-need communities.
    
    

  • Lower prescription drug costs and give patients real price transparency by creating the Georgia Rx Savings Board, an independent affordability board that reviews excessive price increases and sets fair payment limits for what the state will pay, protecting patients and taxpayers from price gouging.

• Expand Access to Care

  • Launch the Rural Care First Initiative

    • Treat rural health like economic development by keeping rural facilities strong so communities can recruit employers, keep young families, and grow.
      
      

    • Increase reimbursements and direct targeted support to rural providers to help keep doors open and protect the services communities depend on, protecting local jobs and keeping care where people live.
      
      

    • Invest in broadband and expand telehealth and mobile clinics to reach communities left with too few providers and too much distance.

  • Stand up for Georgia’s global public health infrastructure and launch the Georgia Public Health Alliance to bring together CDC expertise with Georgia’s world-class hospitals, universities, and public health leaders so our state remains the global hub for public health leadership and innovation.

• Protect Reproductive Care

  • Repeal Georgia’s abortion ban, protect safe access to clinics, and crack down on deceptive crisis pregnancy centers that mislead patients and delay care.
    
    

  • Expand prenatal and postpartum care, strengthen the OB and maternal-fetal medicine workforce, and restore Georgia’s maternal mortality review process.
    
    

  • Invest in maternal mental health and substance use care by expanding perinatal mental health capacity and screening, strengthen referral pathways to treatment, and growing peer support and community-based services, while treating substance use as a health issue and expanding family-centered treatment.
    
    

  • Expand evidence-based home visiting and nurse support for low-income, first-time moms and strengthen early connections to Early Intervention and pediatric care.

• Invest in Behavioral Health

  • Make significant, sustained investments to expand the full behavioral health continuum with stronger mental health parity enforcement, better statewide 988 coordination, more mobile crisis teams, and more crisis stabilization beds so people can get help quickly and close to home.

• Recruit and Retain Health Care Workers

  • Grow the rural health workforce by expanding loan repayment, building residency and training partnerships, and offering targeted incentives to recruit and retain clinicians in areas with shortages, with partnerships with Emory, Morehouse School of Medicine, Mercer, and the Medical College of Georgia.
    
    

  • Ensure Medicaid reimburses at levels that better reflect the real cost of care, with a goal of moving reimbursement at least to Medicare rates where feasible, while streamlining prior authorizations and reducing administrative burdens.
    
    

  • Push for higher guaranteed wages and stronger standards so this workforce can stay on the job and families can count on consistent care.
    
    

  • Bring Georgia into compliance with the federal Ensuring Access Medicaid rule and require wage transparency. This plan will support wage and workforce data tracking, including wages, turnover, and vacancies, so policymakers can see what is working and providers can be held accountable.
    
    

  • Support nurses with safer staffing and stronger workplace protections so patients get better care and nurses can stay in the profession.

• Eat Healthy and Improve Long-Term Outcomes

  • Focus on lowering chronic disease, avoiding unnecessary hospital visits, and bringing down long-term costs for families and taxpayers by reducing food deserts.
    
    

  • Use tools like property tax abatements and Rural Economic Assistance grants to help grocery stores and fresh-food retailers expand into underserved communities.
    
    

  • Increase the availability of Georgia-grown products in food desert communities and support aggregation and distribution partnerships for small producers.
    
    

  • Help more public schools partner with Georgia farmers to supply fresh produce for school meals, supporting children’s health and creating new market opportunities for Georgia agriculture.
    
    

  • Improve access to high-quality school meals, maximize federal USDA Community Eligibility Provision participation, and expand nutrition education so students graduate with real-life skills.