The fight over Georgia’s decision whether to expand Medicaid has heated up.

Those in favor of expansion point to the hundreds of thousands of Georgians who will be covered if the state decides to increase its Medicaid rolls, as outlined under the Affordable Care Act.

But Gov. Nathan Deal, citing the cost to the state and current Medicaid shortfall, opposes the move, along with many Republican leaders.

This week, the U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services told governors that a proposed middle ground – a partial expansion – won’t bring the full federal funding promised under the reform law.

In a new GHN Commentary, Dr. Jacqueline Fincher, head of the Georgia chapter of the American College of Physicians (ACP), representing internal medicine doctors, offers reasons for the state to support a full Medicaid expansion.

“I have many patients in my rural Thomson practice whose very lives may depend on whether Medicaid is expanded,’’ Fincher writes.

In taking this position, the ACP joins the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians in calling for the state to expand its Medicaid program. Another physicians organization, the Georgia chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, is also supportive of expansion.

Here’s a link to Fincher’s Commentary.

Georgia Health News welcomes Commentary submissions. If you would like to propose a Commentary piece for Georgia Health News, please e-mail Andy Miller, editor of GHN, at amiller@georgiahealthnews.com