Friday Facts: August 21, 2026

When the federal Affordable Care Act, better known as “Obamacare,” passed, it offered a much higher federal-state match if states expanded Medicaid welfare programs to include able-bodied, working-age adults. 

Arkansas, led at the time by a Democrat governor working with a Republican-controlled legislature, came up with a supposedly “conservative” alternative. Rather than enrolling more people in the traditional Medicaid program, Arkansas obtained a federal waiver and used its Medicaid expansion dollars to purchase private insurance policies for the expansion population.

It didn’t work as promised. The Arkansas model quickly became notable for major cost overruns, even as health outcomes remained largely stagnant.

Read about the failures of Arkansas’ Medicaid Expansion in this week’s commentary.

– Kyle Wingfield

Friday’s Freshest 🗞️

Much of the data center pushback focuses on water consumption, but this is overblown. But a closer look at these concerns shows that some of the loudest objections do not survive contact with the numbers.

Most people are probably aware that where they receive their healthcare affects the price. But perhaps less intuitive is that the payment can change depending on who owns the healthcare facility.

In 1955, Milton Friedman drew a distinction that might sound obvious today but was radical then: A government’s role in financing education does not require a government monopoly on running schools. Society benefits when every child is educated — but while that may justify public funding, it does not justify limiting a child’s educational options to the nearest public school.

Restrictive licensing practices and regulatory barriers frequently prevent qualified and trained workers from participating in the workforce. This is true in Georgia as elsewhere, but a few bills passed in this year’s legislative session took aim at those barriers.

Peach Picks 🍑

Azalea Fresh Market opened last September to address a growing demand for a grocery store in downtown Atlanta. Does it tell us anything about the government-run grocery stores Zohran Mamdani wants to open in New York City?

A member of the Georgia State Board of Education will lead a committee tasked with replacing members of the Dublin City School Board who were suspended by Gov. Kemp. Kemp issued an executive order suspending the board after a lengthy hearing Wednesday that included testimony about the school’s financial struggles.

Gov. Kemp announced that Cirkla will invest more than $5 million to establish a new food packaging manufacturing facility in Gainesville. The project is expected to create approximately 140 new jobs in Hall County over the next three years.

A trio of new renewable energy projects could soon cover thousands more acres of rural Georgia in solar panels, according to filings submitted in recent days to state regional planning authorities. The proposals come as Georgia seeks to keep up with the growing demand for electricity driven by data centers.

The Atlanta City Council approved spending for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport upgrades, transportation projects and municipal services.The council voted to approve an ordinance to appropriate $1.3 billion in revenue bonds for funding capital projects and environmental protections at Hartsfield-Jackson, the world’s busiest airport.

In the Media 📺

The Coastal Courier republished Foundation Policy and Research Director Chris Denson’s commentary on why Medicare pays more for the same care depending on who owns the building. Medicare pays $164 for an ultrasound in a physician’s office but $339 for the identical scan in a hospital outpatient department — a gap CMS is now proposing to close for imaging services, saving Medicare and its beneficiaries an estimated $260 million in the first year alone.

Featured Report 📊

Institutional investors have become a central focus in debates over housing affordability in metro Atlanta, but the evidence tells a more complicated story. This report evaluates investor activity in context, showing how underlying housing shortages and post-recession policy changes have played a far larger role in shaping today’s market.

Quote of the Week 🌟

Ronald Reagan’s warning that “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction” is a reminder that liberty cannot survive on autopilot. Each generation inherits institutions, laws and traditions that protect rights, but those protections endure only when citizens understand their value and insist that government respect its limits.

That responsibility is important today. Public policy decisions made in state capitols and local communities shape how freely families can educate their children, how easily entrepreneurs can build businesses and create jobs, and how much of their earnings workers can keep.

Preserving freedom does not mean resisting every change. It means judging policies by whether they expand opportunity, strengthen individual responsibility and leave more decisions in the hands of citizens rather than government.

Freedom is an inheritance, but it is also a duty. Georgians can preserve it by remaining informed, engaged and committed to the principles that make self-government possible.