Special report: How a Medicaid work requirement program fails Georgians
Last summer, as political debate swirled over the future of Georgia’s experiment with Medicaid work requirements, Gov. Brian Kemp unveiled a three-minute testimonial video from one of the program’s few enrollees.
Luke Seaborn, a 54-year-old from rural Jefferson, became the de facto face of Georgia Pathways to Coverage, which offers federally subsidized health care for adults who can prove they are working, studying or volunteering.
Today, The Current GA and ProPublica reveal that Seaborn has had his benefits cut — twice — in the past six months. The small business owner fell victim to the same technical glitches and red tape that have stymied thousands of other Georgians from enrolling.
Seaborn, a vintage car mechanic and supporter of the governor, has now soured on Pathways. He says that is due to the bureaucratic challenges that critics of work requirements say keep hard-working Americans from accessing federally subsidized health care.
As part of our continuing series on the nation’s only Medicaid work requirement program, The Current GA editor Margaret Coker has published a second story as well — an investigation documenting how the state has awarded Deloitte Consulting tens of millions of dollars to promote Pathways without linking the PR work to enrollment goals.
When Deloitte’s $10.7 million publicity contract started last summer, enrollment in Georgia Pathways was about 2% — when it ended in February, enrollment was under 3%.
Despite this, Coker learned that the state recently awarded Deloitte another $10 million to continue its marketing work.
READ
• The Firm Running Georgia’s Struggling Medicaid Experiment Was Also Paid Millions to Sell It to the Public
• He Became the Face of Georgia’s Medicaid Work Requirement. Now He’s Fed Up With It.
Deloitte’s outsize — and unusual — role in promoting the program it has built has allows the firm to keep pulling in payments despite Pathways’ struggles. At the end of 2024, Deloitte had already made at least $51 million, including for Pathways’ problematic software platform that has caused so many barriers for eligible Georgians, like Seaborn.
Coker’s journalism has a semblance of a happy ending for Seaborn. The single father of one got re-enrolled in Pathways on Monday, something he credits to The Current’s weeks of seeking comment and context from state officials about his frustrating experience keeping insurance.
There’s much more about Seaborn’s experience — and the state’s response to his problems — in the full story.
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