Recent signals that Georgia won’t expand Medicaid have provoked strong feelings on both sides of the issue.

Many medical providers, including physician groups, and health care advocates want to see Georgia reconsider and push forward, enrolling hundreds of thousands of lower-income adults into Medicaid, as outlined under the Affordable Care Act.

Yet conservatives, including Gov. Nathan Deal, cite costs to the state as a reason to reject Medicaid expansion.

Ronald Bachman, a longtime health care actuary and strategist, writes in a new GHN Commentary that expansion and the new health reform subsidies are likely to produce more dependence on government programs and economic barriers to upward mobility.

“As we look to the future and seek better ways to solve the problems of health care and health insurance, maybe Georgia can create an island of opportunity within a sea of growing dependency,’’ Bachman writes.

Here’s a link to his Commentary.

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