EDITOR’S NOTE: Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams requested an interview with The Valdosta Daily Times Wednesday afternoon prior to her campaign stop at Valdosta State University. She spent about 45 minutes in The Times office answering questions about her platform and life. The Times will make similar time and space available for Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp at his request.

VALDOSTA — Stacey Abrams stands at the brink of history.

If the Democrat candidate for Georgia governor wins, she will become the first black female governor in the United States. The significance of that possibility is not lost on her. 

“I’m fortunate and excited to be in the position to help make history,” Abrams said. “Not simply for myself, because when you’ve made history, you’ve created space for others to follow.”

The 44-year-old former Statehouse minority leader said she wants her nieces to be able to see themselves as someone who could stand for higher offices such as governor or even President of the United States. Abrams grew up without that role model and sees her candidacy as a chance to create new possibilities.

“I see this as an opportunity to open doors and change what the face of leadership looks like. We are adding more to the pantheon, and I think that’s important,” Abrams said.

Health care and Medicaid expansion

Abrams said she recognizes the next governor has to solve the health-care crisis in the state. She said Medicaid expansion is the only pathway. 

During her time as a tax attorney, she said she developed a specialty in health-care finance.

Half of Lowndes County’s population that is non-elderly would be eligible for coverage under Medicaid expansion, she said. Expansion would create more than 3,000 jobs here. 

It would save Lowndes County, and counties across the state, money. 

“Right now, this region spends about $100 million on uncompensated care,” Abrams said. “People who show up to the doctor and cannot afford it means the rest of the community pays for it. In states that have expanded Medicaid, that number has been cut in half. For me, this is not only about physical health. It’s for economic health.”

Georgia has long relied on a partnership with the federal government to finance health care. Medicaid currently supports the aged, blind, disabled, pregnant women and anyone who makes less than $7,500 with one child as a dependent.

The state has too many people who are under-insured or are uninsured, she said. This costs the state $1.7 billion per year, because poor Georgians get sick and go to the doctor anyway.

Abrams wants voters to know they have already paid into the system.

“Georgians have already invested in Medicaid expansion. We’re simply refusing to take our money back to the tune of $8 million a day. It is a bargain that we are a part of. But, because of ideology, we refuse to accept the dollars,” Abrams said.

“The bottom line is this: There is only one way, given the sheer size of Georgia, for us to get better, for us to get healthier. Medicaid expansion is the only infusion of capital.”

Her opponent, Brian Kemp, Republican candidate and secretary of state, has said he would support a system know as innovation waivers, she said.

“Innovation waivers, according to the Trump administration, means that preexisting conditions no longer have to be covered. It essentially lets governors allow shoddy, short-term plans back into their states that will only cover certain things,” Abrams said. “His only plan is to trust the insurance companies – hope they will come, hope they will give you service and hope that you can afford it. 

“My plan is the only plan that has money behind it and proof behind it. It is a bipartisan solution that (vice president) Mike Pence supported when he was governor of Indiana. It is the only way to improve health care.”

She said her plan would provide coverage for poor Georgians, cutting in half the amount of money taxpayers spend on people who go to the hospital without insurance. 

Expansion would bring in more competition, too, she said. 

In the 11 states similar to Georgia that expanded Medicaid, Abrams said insurance costs have dropped between 7-10 percent for every person.

“It’s a good deal for Georgia; it’s a good deal for Georgia taxpayers; and it’s a good deal for Georgia patients,” she said. “People understand that you get sick whether you can afford it or not. They understand that they are paying the bill for someone else. They also understand that it is their money. We’ve paid this money into the system. I’m simply saying Georgia should bring its money home.”

Abrams is critical of Kemp’s proposed health-care plan, saying it fails to speak to the poorest Georgians who can’t afford coverage.

Kemp, she said, assumes competition means people can afford the product.

“The notion of Medicaid expansion is that these are people who do not make enough money to actually pay for health care themselves. They cannot afford insurance. So there is no amount of competition that can make money out of thin air and that’s the challenge,” Abrams said. “He is not speaking to the population that I am speaking to.

“That half a million Georgians who do not have health insurance will not magically have the money to have health insurance under his plan. Competition is not their problem. Their problem is income and he does not solve for an income problem.”

Georgia Grown 

One of six children, Abrams was born in Madison, Wis., and raised in Gulfport, Miss. She likes to say that she is Mississippi raised but Georgia grown.

She moved to the state when she was a junior in high school because her parents were going to grad school. They raised her and her siblings with strong beliefs and values.

“Going to school, going to church, taking care of each other – those are the values that have framed how I’ve approached my life,” Abrams said.

She went to Spelman College for her bachelor’s degree, Texas for her graduate degree and Yale for law school. After school, she returned to Georgia to start her practice as a tax attorney.

“But it was also a place where I could start to get involved in the community again. I spent the next 20 years doing that,” Abrams said.

She left her private law practice to become a deputy city attorney and then ran for office. During her 11 years in the General Assembly, she said she worked hard to know and understand the entire state. 

“On my own dime, of my own volition, I started traveling the state. I wanted to know all of Georgia,” she said.

“As a legislator, I worked hard to respect and reflect the values of everyone,” Abrams said. “That meant working on military issues, kinship care issues, transportation and agriculture issues, working across the aisle, working with Republicans on issues because the mission I have is to do what’s best for Georgia. Sometimes that requires that you put aside ideology and work on what’s best. That has been my practice and that has been my approach.”

Personal, financial issues

Some of the biggest criticisms raised against Abrams relates to her personal finances.

According to financial disclosures, Abrams owes the Internal Revenue Service $50,000 for deferring her taxes. She is currently on a payment plan.

She has received criticism for having more than $170,000 in credit card and student loan debt. 

Abrams said she meets her obligations and is financially responsible for two 69-year-olds, a 92-year-old and a 12-year-old.

Her mother and father were Methodist ministers in Mississippi in 2005 when their church was hit by Hurricane Katrina, Abrams said. The church was devastated and her parents lost most of their income. 

“The church could not afford to pay them, so I stepped in as their primary support,” Abrams said. 

Even after losing their primary source of income, her parents remained committed to their poor community. Abrams ensured her parents didn’t lose their health insurance, in the era prior to the protection of preexisting conditions, she said.

“My father had fallen and broken his back when he was a shipyard worker and mother had six kids, so she had the preexisting condition of being a mother,” Abrams said.

A year later, her younger brother had a child who was taken in by her parents. Then, seven years ago, her grandmother broke her back and became a part of the household, too.

“They have been my responsibility for the last 15 years,” Abrams said. “I have been financially responsible for my family and my own obligations. I reported my income to the IRS and I was qualified for a payment plan. I have met those payments without exception. You can defer taxes. You cannot defer taking care of your family.”

Thomas Lynn is a government and education reporter for The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be reached at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256