Rick Jackson, the Republican nominee for governor of Georgia, supports the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the law that cuts federal Medicaid spending by $911 billion over ten years: his campaign told Fox News on April 27, 2026 that he supports the bill, "Period." By KFF's projection, 150,000 more Georgians will lack health insurance in 2034 because of the law alone.
Jackson has defended the law's Medicaid work requirement, which reaches Georgia adults covered through the state's Pathways program from January 1, 2027, and in September 2026 he proposed a Georgia waiver with strict work rules of its own. Georgia's Pathways program already ties coverage to work, and few eligible Georgians have managed to enroll.
Jackson founded and runs Jackson Healthcare, and its recruiting firm, Jackson Physician Search, wrote in September 2025 that the same law's Medicaid and Affordable Care Act cuts could leave some health care organizations to "adapt or close their doors."
Rick Jackson's Statements on the Medicaid Cuts and Work Requirements
- Jackson's Campaign Said He Supports the Law That Cuts Medicaid by $911 Billion, in April 2026. Rick Jackson's campaign spokesman, Mike Schrimpf, told Fox News Digital on April 27, 2026: "Rick supports the Big Beautiful Bill. Period." That statement of support covers the whole law, including its Medicaid provisions. KFF reports the Congressional Budget Office estimate that the law will reduce federal Medicaid spending by $911 billion over a decade and leave 10 million more people uninsured in 2034. KFF's allocation puts Georgia's share of the cut at about $7.6 billion over ten years, or 6% of the federal Medicaid money the state would otherwise receive.
- Jackson Backs the Law's Medicaid Work Requirement, Which Reaches Georgia in January 2027. The same campaign statement said Jackson "is a strong proponent of work requirements," and Fox News reported that at a campaign event in Thomasville in March 2026 Jackson defended the law's work rules: "The worst thing that we can do is tell people, is get people relying on government where they have no incentive to work." On February 15, 2026, he posted that the people who criticize work requirements for public assistance are "dead wrong" and that the real problem is "trapping people in dependency." The law's work requirement applies in Georgia to adults covered through the state's Pathways waiver, which expires December 31, 2026, and states must put the federal rule in place no later than January 1, 2027. The Congressional Budget Office expects the requirement alone to add 5.3 million people to the uninsured in 2034.
- Jackson Proposed a Georgia Medicaid Waiver With Strict Work Rules in September 2026. On September 8, 2026, Rick Jackson released a health plan that, Atlanta News First reported, calls for a state waiver with "strict work, education or training requirements for able-bodied recipients." Georgia's existing work-rule program shows how such rules work in practice: of the more than 100,000 Georgians thought to qualify for Pathways, only 20,321 were enrolled as of August 2026, based on state figures that Human Rights Watch cited. A Government Accountability Office report found that of $80.3 million spent on Pathways through mid-2025, about $54.2 million went to administration and $26.1 million to health care, the Georgia Recorder reported.
- The Law Jackson Backs Starts Bringing Down $2.2 Billion a Year in Georgia Hospital Payments Above Its New Limits in 2028. The law Rick Jackson's campaign said he supports caps the extra Medicaid payments states direct to hospitals at 110 percent of Medicare rates in states that did not expand Medicaid, as Georgia did not, and lowers payments above the cap by 10 percentage points a year. KFF estimates about $2.17 billion a year in federal spending on Georgia hospital payments sits above the new limits, and from January 1, 2028, hospital payment rates fall in at least 37 states that have such payments above the limits. The law's rural health fund gave Georgia $219 million in its first year, against a ten-year cut of $1.74 billion in federal Medicaid spending in rural Georgia, and the grants "cannot be used to stabilize hospitals that are struggling with basic operating deficits," WABE reported.
- Jackson Backs the Law "Period," While His Own Company Warned Its Cuts Could Close Health Care Organizations. Rick Jackson's campaign put no limit on his support for the law when it spoke to Fox News on April 27, 2026. Jackson Physician Search, part of Jackson Healthcare, the company Jackson founded and leads, wrote on September 3, 2025 that the law's "sweeping cuts to Medicaid and ACA programs raise serious concerns about access, equity, and sustainability" and that "Organizations must find ways to adapt or close their doors." In March 2026 the same firm wrote: "Analysts estimate these changes could result in more than 10 million Americans losing health coverage," adding that coverage losses raise uncompensated care at rural hospitals that already run on thin margins.
What the Medicaid Cuts Rick Jackson Supports Mean for Georgia Patients and Hospitals
- 150,000 more Georgians will lose health insurance because of the law. KFF projects the law alone will leave 150,000 more Georgians uninsured in 2034 (a range of 120,000 to 190,000), and 500,000 counting the enhanced premium tax credits that expired at the end of 2025.
- A rural Georgia hospital stopped delivering babies, citing Medicaid cuts among its reasons. St. Mary's Sacred Heart Hospital in Lavonia closed its labor and delivery unit in October 2025, saying: "Changing demographics in our region, physician recruitment challenges, increasing outmigration for labor and delivery services, and recent Congressional cuts to Medicaid solidified this decision." Pregnant women in Franklin County and nearby counties now drive 45 to 90 minutes to Athens or Greenville to give birth, a risky distance in a complicated pregnancy, CBS News Atlanta reported.
- 22 rural Georgia hospitals are at risk of closing as the payment cuts approach. A Chartis Center for Rural Health analysis found 22 of Georgia's rural hospitals at risk of closing, close to a third of the rural hospitals still operating.
- Fewer Georgia hospitals deliver babies, while Medicaid pays for nearly half of births. Medicaid covers 45% of all births in Georgia, and as of August 2025 just 36% of rural hospitals in Georgia still delivered babies, so cuts to hospital Medicaid payments fall on the units rural mothers depend on.
Frequently Asked Questions About Rick Jackson on Health Care
What is Rick Jackson's record on health care under Trump?
Rick Jackson's campaign told Fox News in April 2026 that he backs the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which takes $911 billion from federal Medicaid spending over ten years. He has spoken for its Medicaid work requirement and wants Georgia to keep strict work rules through a state waiver. His own company's recruiting firm warned that the law's cuts could force health care organizations to close.
Does Rick Jackson support Medicaid work requirements?
Yes. On February 16, 2026, a day after defending work requirements for public assistance, Rick Jackson posted the verse "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat." Georgia's Pathways program turned away 17,638 applicants from October 2024 to September 2025, about half of them over the work rules, Human Rights Watch reported from state data.
What did Rick Jackson's company say about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act?
Rick Jackson's company, Jackson Healthcare, owns Jackson Physician Search, whose September 2025 analysis of the law cited KFF's estimate that "rural areas will lose $137 billion in Medicaid funding over 10 years, nearly triple the rural health fund's allocation." Even so, his campaign says he supports the law.
What does the law Rick Jackson supports mean for Georgia hospitals?
Rick Jackson supports a law that puts Georgia hospitals in line for lower Medicaid payment rates from 2028, as payments above the new limits come down in steps. The last $93 million of Georgia's first-year rural health fund money went to 87 rural hospitals for new programs such as telehealth and staff training, WRDW reported in September 2026; the Georgia Hospital Association counts 18 hospital closures in the state since 2013.
Last updated: 2026-10-26