Jill Nolan, Georgia Recorder

The federal agency is also arguing that major changes have been made since the state plan was approved in 2020 by the Trump administration, leading to more Georgians signing up for health care through the individual marketplace.

More than 700,000 Georgians had signed up or re-enrolled in Affordable Care Act plans during the enrollment period that ended in mid-January. That was a 36% increase from the prior year.

The Biden administration has attributed the growing enrollment partly to special sign-up opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic and more federal spending on consumer outreach. Last spring’s American Rescue Plan Act also included enhanced subsidies, which have helped cut premiums.

An analysis done for the federal government by a private firm, Acumen, concluded participation would decrease under Gov. Brian Kemp’s plan, with enrollment dropping up to 8.3% in the first year. Brooks-LaSure also noted concerns raised during a recent public comment period.

So far, only one part of the governor’s health care proposals unveiled in 2019 – a reinsurance program designed to reduce premiums – has taken effect.

The Biden administration rejected major parts of the governor’s plan to slightly expand Medicaid eligibility, and the state is challenging that decision in federal court.

Kemp’s proposal would bypass healthcare.gov and divert consumers looking for insurance to a privately run process. But the federal government stopped short of pulling the plug on the plan Friday.

“The departments are committed to working with Georgia to make change to the Georgia Access Model to ensure enrollment does not decrease in the state under the waiver, which is why the departments have afforded the state an opportunity to rectify the Georgia Access Model, rather than terminate the Georgia Access Model at this time,” Brooks-LaSure wrote.

The state has until July 28 to submit an updated plan detailing how it would guarantee a smooth transition for Georgians and avoid the projected drop in enrollment.

Laura Colbert, executive director of Georgians for Healthy Future, a consumer advocacy nonprofit, urged Kemp to use the pause as an opportunity to reconsider the waiver.

“There are more Georgians enrolled in coverage through the Affordable Care Act than ever before. Any plan that would meaningfully disrupt health insurance for 700,000 folks should be carefully considered,” Colbert said.

“Georgia leaders are not giving Georgians the courtesy of careful consideration when they refuse to answer questions about their plan to separate from healthcare.gov, and disregard evidence that it will mean some hard-working Georgians lose their coverage. Under these circumstances, it’s reasonable for the federal government to hit the brakes,” she added.

Two groups that challenged the plan in court last year, Planned Parenthood Southeast and Feminist Women’s Health Center, celebrated the Biden administration’s decision Friday. In a joint statement, the groups said Kemp’s plan “seeks to turn back the clock for Georgians trying to enroll in quality health care to a time when consumers were forced to navigate through private insurers, brokers, and junk plans just to get covered.”

Georgia Democrats like U.S. Sen Raphael Warnock had called on the Biden administration to scrap the plan.

“After months of effort, I’m glad the Administration is heeding my call to reverse course on this misguided decision that would undoubtedly lead to fewer Georgians having less access to free and affordable health care,” Warnock said in a statement Friday.

The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment sent late Friday.

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com. Follow Georgia Recorder on Facebook and Twitter.

Six of them are touting the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, whose fixation with Georgia has driven a wedge within the GOP and handed Democrats a rallying point and potential opening.

Trump has endorsed in five statewide races, following through on his vow to work to defeat Gov. Brian Kemp after the governor refused to go along with Trump’s plans to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. He has instead backed former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, whose first video ad featured Trump speaking directly into the camera about how Kemp “let us down.”

The former president has also endorsed former Democratic state Rep. Vernon Jones in an east Georgia congressional district with a heavy GOP lean.

Trump is planning to come later this month to campaign in Commerce on behalf of his slate of preferred candidates. His oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has already stumped for Perdue in Tifton and Cumming. The former president’s involvement has political observers eying the state’s May 24 primaries as a test of Trump’s grip on the Republican party.

But some competitive Republican candidates are framing themselves as an “America First” or pro-Trump candidate even when they are up against the former president’s favored candidate.

Mike Collins, a Jackson Republican, is running to replace Congressman Jody Hice, who is the Trump-endorsed candidate for secretary of state. He pulled up to the state Capitol this week to qualify in a bright red big rig emblazed with his conservative bona fides: “Pro-life. Pro-gun. Pro-Trump.”

But Collins isn’t the Trump-endorsed candidate in the race. That candidate is former Democratic state Rep. Vernon Jones, who received Trump’s blessing shortly after exiting the governor’s race.

Collins, who is the son of a former Georgia congressman, clearly doesn’t see himself as being at a disadvantage.

“Donald Trump had (Jones) fall for the art of the deal. That’s all there was to it,” Collins told reporters Wednesday. “Vernon Jones negotiated his own way out of the governor’s race. I believe Donald Trump would have endorsed the guy to run for dog catcher if that’s what he wanted just to get rid of him.”

And then there are statewide Republican candidates, like the governor, who are trying to survive the primary while in Trump’s crosshairs.

“Look, I’ve said this about 500,000 times over the last two years: I can’t control what other people are doing in politics, whether it’s my opponent, whether it’s people that are endorsing him,” Kemp said Thursday when asked about Trump endorsing Perdue. “I’m focused on doing what Georgians want. I’m focused on making our state the greatest state in the country to live, work and raise our families.”

In the lieutenant governor’s race, Trump endorsed Jackson Republican state Sen. Burt Jones after making clear last summer he would not be backing Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller for the role. Trump condemned Miller’s “refusal to work with other Republican Senators on voter fraud and irregularities in the State.”

Miller presided over a vote on the state’s controversial election law last year after Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan boycotted the debate. Duncan, a vocal Trump critic who has urged his party to look to the future, decided not to run for another term.

Miller downplayed the significance of the endorsement last week.

“I believe that Georgians have the mindset and the ability to make their own decisions,” Miller told reporters. “And with no disrespect to anybody involved, I’m going to work hard, and things are going to go well for Butch Miller and my candidacy.”

Trump has also endorsed former University of Georgia star running back Herschel Walker for U.S. Senate, who is the frontrunner in the GOP primary to decide who will challenge U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock in the fall.

Trump backed Georgia Congressman Jody Hice for Secretary of State after the incumbent, Brad Raffensperger, drew his ire. Trump’s insistence that Raffensperger “find” the votes needed to change the election outcome is under investigation by the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.

And then late Friday, Trump endorsed Patrick Witt for state insurance commissioner. Witt, who assisted with Trump’s legal effort to reverse the 2020 election results, has challenged Commissioner John King, who was appointed by the governor.

The 2020 election is still a big issue for many conservative voters. No evidence has been produced to support Trump’s claim that the election was rigged, but a January ABC News/Ipsos poll found 71% of Republicans say they believe Trump was the rightful winner.

“It’s a very important issue for Republican voters, not just here in Georgia, but across the country,” said Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a scion of the Trump movement. “They really feel like there was a lot of election fraud in the 2020 election. I believe that myself. That’s why I objected on Jan. 6 to Joe Biden’s Electoral College votes, but I think it is something that’s important to them, and President Trump’s endorsement, it’s pretty heavy, carries a lot of weight.”

Greene, who was endorsed by Trump in 2020, spoke with the Recorder after a Georgia Faith and Freedom Coalition event in January. At the same event, Walker placed less emphasis on Trump’s role and said conservative Georgians are more concerned about the status quo under Biden.

“The biggest key is what happened in this administration, you see all the things that are happening right now, inflation the way it is, crime the way it is, and different things they are saying,” he said. “I think that’s the problem is all the things that are happening now.”

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com. Follow Georgia Recorder on Facebook and Twitter.

Just seven years ago, the state ethics commission ruled candidates and officeholders could not use campaign funds to help secure their homes. But after a tumultuous last year, the current commissioners are on the verge of reversing course.

The request comes from the Democratic Party of Georgia, but the escalation in threats toward public officials is a problem for both parties. There are prominent examples on both sides of the aisle, with both Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger the target of death threats in the wake of the 2020 election.

“It is important to note that particular vitriol has been directed towards candidates and elected officials who are women and persons of color," Matt Weiss, the attorney for the Democratic Party of Georgia, told commissioners Thursday.

“Sadly, in the current political environment, holding public office, being a candidate for state or local office, or even working for a candidate or an officeholder is likely to be accompanied by threats of death and bodily harm, such that purchasing, installing and maintaining a home security system is necessary for protection."

There was broad consensus Thursday at the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission meeting that the state's political climate had, in fact, changed since just 2014 when the ban on using campaign funds for home security systems was adopted.

A supporter of the far-right Proud Boys group pleaded guilty this summer to threatening to kill Warnock after his upset win over former Sen. Kelly Loeffler. Warnock's victory helped put the Senate chamber in Democratic hands.

Raffensperger and another top election official, Gabriel Sterling, were open about the threats election workers and the agency's leaders received in the aftermath of the presidential election, which went through three tallies. President Joe Biden narrowly won Georgia, making him the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state in four decades.

State Sen. Elena Parent, an Atlanta Democrat, also said she received “a torrent of abuse, attacks & death threats" after questioning the validity of the Trump campaign's attempts to overturn Georgia's election results. “It's time to ask ourselves, 'Is this who we are? Is this who we want to be?" she said back in December.

The commission is still working out the details of what's known in agency parlance as an advisory opinion, which guide staff and commissioners as they determine if candidates are staying within the bounds of campaign finance rules. A vote could happen at the commission's next meeting in December.

At issue is how best to write the rule so that campaign funds can be used to pay for home security equipment and subscription fees without the system personally enriching a candidate or officeholder.

Joe Cusack, who is part of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission's compliance team, noted that insurance companies reward homeowners who have home security systems with a lower rate.

“We've tried to thread that needle in this case, recognizing this is a different political atmosphere than when this question was presented about seven years ago," Cusack said. “We recognize that there is some need for this, but we are very cognizant that campaign dollars do not need to be turned into personal assets."

In that spirit, commissioners are considering letting an individual use campaign funds to rent the equipment until their candidacy or time in office ends. If the funds are used to buy equipment, the individual would have to sell the device and return the funds to their campaign account.

Cusack said the staff is trying to adhere to the Federal Election Commission's rule on the national level. The Georgia commission rules apply to statewide and local candidates.

Commission raises donation limits ahead of '22 election

The commission increased the maximum amount of money a political donor can give to their candidate of choice, clearing the bar for beefier donations ahead of the 2022 election when the state's highest offices will be on the ballot.

David Emadi, the commission's executive secretary, said the increases were made to keep up with inflation. Several candidates have announced campaigns for offices up and down the ballot, but the politicking will not start in earnest until later.

“I think it's more prudent to do so now before the campaign season really gets kicking in full swing so that everyone understands what the limits are for the duration of the 2022 cycle," Emadi said.

The limit for races for governor and other statewide offices is now set at $7,600 for each primary and general election, up for $7,000, and $4,500 for a runoff, up from $4,100.

For local and legislative races, the new cap is set at $3,000 per primary and again for the general election, up from $2,800, and $1,600 for runoffs, which is up from $1,500.

The commission last bumped up the limit in 2019.

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com. Follow Georgia Recorder on Facebook and Twitter.