{"id":15514,"date":"2026-09-15T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/?p=15514"},"modified":"2026-09-15T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T09:00:00","slug":"rising-healthcare-costs-have-hit-georgias-most-conservative-district-but-its-politics-are-unlikely-to-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/?p=15514","title":{"rendered":"Rising Healthcare Costs Have Hit Georgia\u2019s Most Conservative District. But Its Politics Are Unlikely To Change."},"content":{"rendered":"

Amber Bates of Cohutta, Georgia, is one of thousands of people without health insurance in the 14th Congressional District, home to about 765,000 people<\/a> in the northwestern corner of the state. <\/p>\n

She and her husband have not had health coverage for the past two years, Bates said, because their employment is unsteady and they earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, the public health insurance for those with disabilities or low incomes.<\/p>\n

When the GOP-led Congress allowed enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies \u2014 which helped lower the cost of plans sold on the marketplace \u2014 to expire<\/a> at the end of last year, Bates\u2019 mother-in-law dropped her plan, too.<\/p>\n

Bates and her husband have a 2-year-old son. The mother-in-law also cares for a son who has autism. They all live together in a trailer home, spending about a third of their family income on prescription medications and opting for trips to the emergency room \u2014 often their main destination for medical care, since they aren\u2019t billed up front.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s stressful, Bates said. Yet despite their situation, she said she remains \u201call in\u201d for President Donald Trump. But she also said she\u2019s recognizing flaws in his leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s trying,\u201d Bates said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a lot more other things have his attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Georgia\u2019s 14th District is the most conservative in the state<\/a>. It\u2019s the district Marjorie Taylor Greene, who rose to prominence as one of Trump\u2019s most vocal and loyal supporters, represented from 2021 to January 2026.<\/p>\n

Greene made a notable pivot from the president last year when she publicly bashed Republicans\u2019 handling of the enhanced ACA subsidies, which helped 74,000 people in her district<\/a> \u2014 along with her own adult children, she said \u2014 afford healthcare.<\/p>\n

The following month, after Greene publicly accused<\/a> Trump of focusing too much on \u201cforeign wars\u201d and ignoring Americans\u2019 economic struggles, the president attacked Greene on social media<\/a> and said he would no longer support her. Soon after, she announced that she would be resigning<\/a> from Congress.<\/p>\n

Still, many others in this semirural, exurban district, like Bates, remain loyal to Trump, even as more people go uninsured and face rising costs as a result.<\/p>\n

Bates isn\u2019t alone in feeling the pinch of healthcare costs this year. Nationally, 37% of Republican voters surveyed in June for a KFF health opinion poll<\/a> said healthcare costs were \u201cextremely important.\u201d More than half of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who support the Make America Great Again movement said that Congress did the wrong thing by letting the enhanced subsidies expire, according to KFF poll data<\/a> released in March. And 62% of ACA marketplace enrollees put the most blame for the expiration on Republicans (30%) or Trump (32%).<\/p>\n

But, as the November midterm elections approach, policy experts don\u2019t anticipate the issue of healthcare costs will lead to a major shift in how people vote in deeply conservative areas like Georgia\u2019s 14th District, even as policies that once benefited them are rolled back.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re willing to stick with the party line,\u201d said Charles Bullock<\/a>, a professor of political science at the University of Georgia. \u201cAs long as Donald Trump and other Republicans are saying Obamacare is bad, they\u2019re going to continue to buy into that idea,\u201d Bullock said, \u201ceven when it\u2019s against their economic self-interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

In April, voters in Georgia\u2019s 14th District elected Republican Clay Fuller to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene, who left Congress in January. Fuller is now seeking a full term in November. (Briah Lumpkins\/KFF Health News)<\/p>\n

Obamacare Still a \u2018Dirty Word\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the ACA was passed in 2010, not a single Republican<\/a> voted for it. Now, 16 years later, Obamacare is still a \u201cdirty word\u201d for many conservatives, said Jonathan Oberlander<\/a>, a professor of social medicine at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n

While previously the GOP\u2019s goal was to \u201crepeal and replace\u201d the ACA, the current political strategy is \u201ceffectively rolling back some of the coverage gains,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to a dashboard from NYU Langone Health\u2019s Department of Population Health, nearly 14%<\/a> of people younger than 65 living in Georgia\u2019s 14th District were uninsured in 2024, which is higher than the national average<\/a>. And in 2023, over 16%<\/a> relied on Medicaid or the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, according to Georgetown University\u2019s Center for Children and Families.<\/p>\n

Last summer, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which restricted ACA enrollment periods, added monthly fees, and imposed new documentation requirements for enrollees. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the number of uninsured people in the U.S. would increase by about 15 million people over 10 years as a result of the new law, the expiration of the ACA subsidies, and other ACA changes. With the enhanced subsidies expiring at the end of 2025, ACA enrollment fell by nearly 3 million<\/a> this year. In Georgia, enrollment dropped by more than half a million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Greene\u2019s not a fan of the ACA. She said her family\u2019s health insurance premiums skyrocketed after it became law in 2010. But last year she surprised those on both sides of the aisle when she openly criticized her Republican colleagues over the subsidies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to go against everyone on this issue,\u201d she wrote in an October post on X<\/a>, \u201cbecause when the tax credits expire this year my own adult children\u2019s insurance premiums for 2026 are going to DOUBLE, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a June interview with KFF Health News in Cumming, Georgia, Greene described the end of the subsidies as \u201ccatastrophic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll over the country, people are constantly outraged over the cost of health insurance,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Like Greene, Bates has also wavered in her support for Trump. In addition to her frustration about the ACA subsidies expiring, she said the Iran war and inflation have also hit her wallet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t feel like he\u2019s doing the best he could,\u201d she said. \u201cHe did great his first term. But this term, it\u2019s just not OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Republicans\u2019 policies<\/a> have made it more difficult<\/a> for people to qualify for Medicaid and led to the end of the subsidies that made ACA marketplace plans more affordable, a clear plan to improve the U.S. healthcare system hasn\u2019t emerged, Greene and policy experts say.<\/p>\n

In December, House Speaker Mike Johnson championed<\/a> the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act. Touted as an alternative to extending ACA subsidies, the bill<\/a> was intended to lower premiums and increase healthcare access.<\/p>\n

But the Congressional Budget Office found the bill would increase the number of uninsured<\/a> people by 100,000 a year from 2027 to 2035. While the House passed the measure in December, nearly nine months later the Senate hasn\u2019t voted on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a Republican-controlled House, Republican-controlled Senate, Republican-controlled White House,\u201d Greene said. \u201cIf Republicans had a plan, this was the perfect scenario to get it passed. You should have all the votes \u2014 get it done. And they\u2019re not doing anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city hall building in downtown Rockmart, Georgia, in the state\u2019s 14th District. Shawn Harris, a Democrat seeking the district\u2019s U.S. House seat this November, lives in Rockmart. (Briah Lumpkins\/KFF Health News)<\/p>\n

Sticking to the Party Line<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite such criticisms of Republicans for lacking a healthcare plan, voters in deeply conservative areas such as Georgia\u2019s 14th District are sticking with Trump and his allies.<\/p>\n

In April, the district elected Trump-backed Clay Fuller to replace Greene, though he won with smaller margins<\/a> than she had. He\u2019s up for election again in November for a full congressional term. The University of Georgia\u2019s Bullock said flipping the district from red to blue is unlikely.<\/p>\n

Fuller\u2019s office did not respond to interview requests for this report. But in a Q&A with the Chattanooga Times Free Press<\/a> ahead of his April runoff with Democrat Shawn Harris, Fuller said that the expanded ACA subsidies, introduced under the Biden administration during the covid pandemic, were not a \u201ca long-term solution.\u201d Lowering healthcare costs would come from increasing competition and reducing federal overreach, he said.<\/p>\n

Harris, who\u2019s facing off with Fuller again in November, told KFF Health News that the GOP strategy for the midterms is to continue to play off Republicans\u2019 long-standing negative perceptions about Obamacare.<\/p>\n

When people in the community are asked whether they support Obamacare, \u201cthey\u2019re probably going to say no,\u201d Harris said. But when asked about the Affordable Care Act, people tend to say, \u201c\u2018Oh, yes, I need to have that,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t realize it\u2019s one in the same,\u201d Harris said, adding that Republicans \u201csold everybody a bill of goods.\u201d<\/p>\n

As candidates campaign, they need to be in tune with their constituents, Greene said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where I think they\u2019re completely missing the mark,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re totally tone deaf to what Americans\u2019 needs really are. And we need a serious solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bates considers healthcare among her top concerns. She said she doesn\u2019t think anybody, including Trump, can make healthcare more affordable. But she hopes politicians will talk with people like her to better understand the burdens that consumers face.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly wish Congress would actually spend time in the life that we live,\u201d she said. \u201cThey just sit behind their desks, and they don\u2019t know what\u2019s really going on in life, because they make so much money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are you struggling to afford your health insurance? Have you decided to forgo coverage?\u00a0Click here<\/a>\u00a0to contact KFF Health News and share your story.<\/em><\/p>\n

KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

This article<\/a> first appeared on KFF Health News<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amber Bates of Cohutta, Georgia, is one of thousands of people without health insurance in the 14th Congressional District, home to about 765,000 people in the northwestern corner of the state. She and her husband have not had health coverage for the past two years, Bates said, because their employment is unsteady and they earn…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":15515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15514"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}