House committee hears bill to direct Medicaid to review sickle cell therapies

Representative Crawford brought House Bill 334 (LC570194), which would require the Georgia Medicaid program to conduct an annual review of available medications, treatments and services for enrollees with sickle cell disease and to consider whether changes to covered benefits are necessary. Crawford said Tennessee was the first state to pass similar legislation and estimated about 10,000 people in Georgia live with sickle cell disease, with roughly 60% in the Metro Atlanta area.

Committee members and supporters stressed the policy’s potential to identify coverage gaps and to consider new therapies, including gene‑editing approaches. Representative Brown said sickle cell historically has been underresearched and undertreated and that a departmental review could help ensure Medicaid covers new and effective treatments.

Members asked whether the Department of Community Health (DCH) had been consulted. Crawford said she had engaged with the department in prior years but not recently; the chair directed the sponsor to meet with the department and said the committee would hold the bill until next week so staff could get DCH input and the committee could report that it consulted the agency before moving the bill to rules.

The chair formally held the bill for further work, and the committee adjourned.