More than 7,000 Georgians wait years for Medicaid disability waivers, families plead

More than 7,000 Georgians are on the waitlist for Medicaid-funded New Options Waiver (NOW) and Comprehensive Supports Waiver Program (COMP), which provide funds to help those living with disabilities.

The funds help cover services, such as nutrition services, the cost of therapy and employment support.

Earlice Acey told GPB News that a COMP waiver could allow her 23-year-old daughter Trinity to live a full life.

“Her having a COMP waiver would allow her to go to school, to be able to have transportation,” she said. “She deserves to have these opportunities.”

Acey said they have been on the waitlist for 11 years. The waivers are administered through the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities and increasing funding for the program has not been a priority.

Funds were included in the 2025 fiscal year budget to make permanent 500 waiver slots, and the current 2027 state budget includes funding for 150 new NOW/COMP slots and 100 annual waiver slots.

D’Arcy Robb, the executive director of the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, told GPB that people living with disabilities and seniors are in urgent need of these services. Around 1,200 Georgians are in urgent need of this care.

“It is very common for us to hear from parents that they’ve had to leave their jobs, and it put the family in economic peril,” Robb said. “We have Georgians who are dropped off in emergency rooms. We have Georgians who are homeless.”