Our country’s Medicaid program is a lifeline for millions of people with chronic illnesses and disabilities, with financial challenges and who are pregnant.
But through efforts to impose widespread budget cuts, Congress has put the stability of the crucial Medicaid program on the chopping block.
The House of Representatives set a target of cutting $880 billion from Medicaid, threatening devastating consequences for the health care system and jeopardizing the health of patients and communities here in Georgia. Physicians like us know that cuts to Medicaid — America’s critical health care safety net — would be catastrophic for our communities.
As OB/GYNs, we are terrified of the potentially disastrous impact these cuts would have on our obstetric patients specifically. Women serve as the focal point of their families, the heart of so many functions in their communities and often as the economic foundation in their homes.
Our job is to ensure that our patients are empowered to live healthy lives and have access to the health care they need. That will become nearly impossible for almost half of the pregnant women in Georgia if they lose access to their coverage.
Medicaid has covered nearly half of all births in Georgia in recent years
Credit: Dr. Cary Perry
Credit: Dr. Cary Perry
Many of our patients currently rely on Medicaid coverage for their health needs. Between 2018 and 2023, 45% to 47% of all births in Georgia were covered by Medicaid (March of Dimes, 2025).
In November 2022, Georgia joined 29 other states in implementing a 12-month extension of Medicaid postpartum coverage in an effort to improve maternal health outcomes (Senate Bill 338, 2022).
The Maternal Mortality Review Committee, the group authorized by the Georgia General Assembly to analyze maternal deaths in the year following birth, has found that Medicaid enrollees account for 68% of pregnancy-related postpartum deaths, greater than 60% of which were preventable (Department of Public Health, 2025).
The support for preventive health services, coordination of community resources and social services, increased availability in family planning and mental health support and continued medical care for health issues identified during or exacerbated by pregnancy has been made possible by this extension of coverage.
Loss of this coverage would almost certainly negate the efforts that continue to be made to prevent the loss of life. Medicaid is essential to our progress in combating maternal death.
Funding cuts would increase preventable health complications
Rather than show up at emergency rooms, we want our patients to have consistent care with us. The impacts of these cuts will be devastating, leading to more rural hospital closures and a reduction in funding for major referral centers like Grady Memorial Hospital.
If we lose hospitals and referral centers, we lose a critical place where people can receive care. We can only help the patients who come to see us, and for that, our patients need reliable health coverage. To remove this coverage from the thousands of women who rely on it would lead to a dangerous increase in preventable health complications and deaths, not just in Georgia but throughout the country.
While Congress continues to deliberate these cuts, one thing is for sure: If Medicaid is cut, not only will women and their families bear the brunt of the consequences — but so will Georgia. It is not too late for us to raise our collective voices in support of Medicaid and oppose these steep cuts. We urge our elected officials to push back against these proposed cuts. The lives of our fellow Georgians depend on it.
Cary Perry, M.D., wrote this guest opinion column in partnership with the Georgia OB/GYN Society.
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