Bottoms to focus on healthcare and other affordability issues
ATLANTA — In her first news conference after Election Day, Georgia's governor-elect, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, said she will be focused on the cost of living, access to healthcare and funding for public education — the affordability issues she said voters had elected her to address. Expanding Medicaid will top her agenda, she said, noting that hundreds of thousands of Georgians lack health insurance due to the state's approach to Medicaid and because of increasingly unaffordable premiums for coverage under the Affordable Care Act. "The people made it loud and clear what they care about. They want leaders who are going to address those kitchen table issues that are impacting their daily lives," Bottoms said at the Georgia Capitol Friday, flanked by members of her transition team. She said Gov. Brian Kemp called her on election night and that they spoke the next day. She said the two-term Republican told her he would help her with her transition to the governor's office. She added that the two have a "very cordial, friendly, personal relationship" despite their policy differences. One such difference is Kemp's approach to Medicaid, a work-based program called Pathways to Coverage. A federal Government Accountability Office report found
