Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee are working to help low-income families in Georgia and across the country access health care services.

In a letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, the Senators urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to expand transportation options to help qualifying low-income Americans get to doctors’ appointments and other non-emergency medical care.

A new report by NPR shows how Medicaid recipients across the country struggle to access transportation, limiting their access to vital health care.

“On behalf of individuals in our states with disabilities, seniors, dialysis patients, and others who require regular transportation to health care services, we write to urge that access to low-cost, non-emergency medical transportation is strengthened nationwide,” the Senators wrote.

Last month, CMS began to expand the Repetitive Scheduled Non-Emergent Ambulance Transport (RSNAT) program, which helps low-income people get to and from medical care.

“With CMS planning to expand the model to Georgia as soon as February 1, 2022, there needs to be a plan in place to assist these individuals with accessing lifesaving treatments, like dialysis and wound care services,” the group continued.

Georgia Congressman Sanford Bishop (GA-02) led a similar effort in the House of Representatives last year.

Sen. Ossoff is also working to pass the bipartisan MOBILE Health Care Act to help ensure vulnerable and underserved communities have access to health care, including by using mobile health clinics to reach people where they are.

Click here to read the letter.

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