Federal health care legislation could take in hundreds of millions of dollars in costs to Georgia’s state budge, but advocates and opponents differ greatly on whether the state can afford it. As the health care debate has brought out in Washington, the issue of the cost to states has become a fire-hot topic. The only greatest cost to states is anticipated to be the vast expansion of Medicaid coverage for poor people. In Georgia, the state department of community health has calculated the additional state costs would start at $100 million to $200million a year when the program begins in about 2013 a decrease over half-dozen years to upwards of $500 million a year. An only review by a federal charitable group called federal funds information for states said that the bill approved would cost Georgia about $145 million a year from 2017 to 2019. It is unclear why these numbers vary from the state’s estimates. State officials acknowledge that their analysis is far from the ultimate, as the senate bill changed after the analysis was done. Varying house and Senate bills have passed, and the two houses must now forge a compromise. The Republicans say that the state cannot afford these added costs at this time of severe budget.