O.C.G.A. § 49-4-157 (2019)
Construction of this article with federal act
It is the intention of the General Assembly that this article be construed consistently with Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act of 1935, as amended, and so as to authorize the Department of Community Health, within the appropriations provided to it, to administer the state plan in a manner so as to receive the maximum amount of federal financial participation available in expenditures made under the state plan.
History
Ga. L. 1977, p. 384, § 16; Ga. L. 1999, p. 296, § 24. U.S. Code. Title XIX of the federal Social Security
Act of 1935, referred to in this Code section, is codified at 42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq.
Annotations
JUDICIAL DECISIONS State’s rules restricting reimbursement for abortions inconsistent with Social Security Act. - Rules promulgated by Georgia’s Department of Medical Assistance (now Department of Community Health) restricting reimbursement to Medicaid enrollees for medically necessary abortions are inconsistent with Title XIX of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq., and because the plaintiff classes will suffer irreparable injury for which there is no adequate legal remedy, the defendants, the defendants’ agents and employees, must be permanently enjoined from refusing to provide Medicaid reimbursement to the members of the plaintiff classes for the provision of all medically necessary abortions. Doe v. Bus-
bee, 481 F. Supp. 46, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8107 (N.D. Ga. 1979). Exhaustion of administrative remedies. - Commissioner of the Department of Community Health, members of the board of that Department, and the Director of the Department’s Division of Medical Assistance could not avoid judicial review for want of exhaustion of administrative remedies when the very rules of the department precluded both hearing and a remedy sought by a Medicaid-eligible woman; moreover, no adequate administrative remedy existed which the woman could have exhausted. Feminist Women’s Health Ctr. v. Burgess, 282 Ga. 433, 651 S.E.2d 36, 2007 Ga. LEXIS 608 (2007).
OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Limited use of state funds to pay for abortions to assure maximum federal financial participation. - State funds may not be expended for any abortions except those in pregnancies wherein the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term, especially given the fact that it is the intention of the General Assembly that Ga. L. 1977, p. 384, § 1 et seq. (see O.C.G.A. § 49-4-140
et seq.) be construed so as to accomplish maximum federal financial participation. If the state plan were to be administered so as to assure payment for abortions other than those where the life of the mother would be threatened if the fetus were carried to term, no federal funds would be available for that purpose. 1977 Op. Att’y Gen. No. 77-64.