Helping Memphians Get Covered with the Affordable Care Act
Dear Friend,
This week, the HealthCare.gov marketplace opened for 2015 plan selections, I spoke with nearly 7,300 Ninth District citizens during a telephone town hall meeting, and the President laid out his plan to help alleviate some of the problems with our broken immigration system. Keep reading to learn what else happened this week.
Helping Memphians Get Covered with the Affordable Care Act
Fixing our Nation's Broken Immigration System
Listening to the Ninth District
Secretary Hillary Clinton Visits St. Jude
Fully Protecting the President
Emerging from the Shadows of Slavery and Jim Crow
Giving Non-Violent Offenders a Fresh Start
Saving the HOPE Scholarship and Fighting for Tennessee Students
Helping Memphians Get Covered with the Affordable Care Act
All Memphians deserve quality health insurance and thanks to the landmark Affordable Care Act, the uninsured rate for the Ninth District has plummeted by 10%, 15,000 citizens who did not have insurance coverage now do, more than 200,000 Memphis-area residents have insurance that covers preventive care, and no one can be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition anymore. The Affordable Care Act is already working for Memphis and for the whole country.
The HealthCare.gov insurance marketplace is now open for 2015 plan shopping and comparisons. While the current shopping period runs into February of next year, December 15th is the deadline to enroll in coverage that will take effect on January 1st, 2015. You can visit https://bit.ly/hcSavings to see if you qualify for tax credits that will be applied as discounts on your monthly insurance premium. If you already have insurance coverage through the HealthCare.gov marketplace, your plan will be automatically renewed for 2015 but you should still visit the newly-redeveloped, more stable, and easier-to-use HealthCare.gov to update your information, ensure you receive the full tax credit to which you are entitled, and review new options as cheaper insurance plans that better fit your needs may now be available.
While the application process at HealthCare.gov has been streamlined and simplified this year, a one-page guide is available here and Tennessee's health care navigator Seedco will be hosting several enrollment assistance sessions over the coming weeks if you are interested in receiving in-person assistance. There will be enrollment sessions at the Ben Hooks Library from 10:30am to 1pm on December 4th, 11th, 16th, and 18th. At each of these sessions, there will be certified health care navigators on site to answer questions you have about the law and assist you in the enrollment process. If you are interested in attending one of the enrollment sessions, please call (901) 405-7895 to RSVP.
If you are on Medicare or your employer is offering qualified health insurance that you are enrolled in, you're already covered and won't need to enter the Marketplace for your health coverage. If you aren't sure whether or not you should use the Marketplace to get insurance, call the Marketplace Hotline at (800) 318-2596, visit HealthCare.gov, or call Seedco at (901) 255-2955. You can also call my office at (901) 544-4131 or the Marketplace Hotline to find out if TennCare (Tennessee's Medicaid program) is a coverage option for you.
Fixing our Nation's Broken Immigration System
As the leader of the least productive Congress in recent history, Speaker Boehner has outright refused to allow the House of Representatives to vote on the bipartisan comprehensive immigration and border security bill that passed the Senate a year-and-a-half ago. As one of the bill's 200 House cosponsors, I have repeatedly called upon the Speaker to give the bill a fair hearing to no avail.
Our nation's immigration system remains broken as a result of the Speaker's politically-motivated delays. After waiting on Congressional action that the Speaker refuses to allow, the President last night announced a series of commonsense actions that will help alleviate the problems in our system. The country cannot afford to wait any longer to address one of our most pressing challenges.
I fully support the President's legally-sound move that follows well-established precedents to address our nation's immigration problems. I once again urge Speaker Boehner to let Congress work its will, allow for a vote which would surely pass with wide bipartisan support, and finally fix our broken immigration system.
Listening to the Ninth District
On Tuesday, I hosted another telephone town hall meeting for the citizens of the Ninth District. I enjoyed the opportunity to speak to almost 7,300 constituents. We discussed a number of issues, including the recently-opened shopping period for affordable 2015 health insurance plans at HealthCare.gov, the start of construction at Harahan Bridge, my work to end efforts by Deep South state legislatures to dilute the voting rights and political power of African Americans, and the recent push by some in Congress to force President Obama to approve the environmentally-damaging Keystone XL pipeline.
These telephone town hall meetings allow me to hear what's on your mind, even when I'm in Washington working on your behalf. Hearing the perspective, opinions and ideas of citizens like you helps me best represent the Ninth District in Congress.
Whether you have a question or would like to listen in, I hope you'll consider participating in future telephone town halls. If you would like to sign up to participate in my future telephone town halls, please fill out this form.
Secretary Hillary Clinton Visits St. Jude
This week, former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came to Memphis to help open the new, 38,000 square foot education center at St. Jude. The new education center houses a medical library, more rooms for doctors and researchers, and 2 auditoriums—and it will help train more doctors right here in Memphis. While I couldn't be there for the Secretary's visit, my District Director Marzie Thomas represented me. It is always good for our city to have such well-known, well-respected public figures visit, and I am glad that Secretary Clinton came to Memphis and met with families and patients at St. Jude.
Fully Protecting the President
After a series of high-profile security lapses at the White House and elsewhere, the House Judiciary Committee this week held a hearing to ensure that the Secret Service is doing everything it can to adequately protect President Obama. At the hearing, I questioned Acting Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy about the role of the Secret Service, and you can listen to NPR's All Things Considered segment covering some of my questions here. You can watch my full remarks from the hearing here. I suggested to Acting Director Clancy that a water barrier along the most vulnerable section of the fence around the White House might be both attractive and effective deterrent. While some in the media have jumped on my use of the word "moat," my idea, which I also discussed privately with the Acting Director, would be a simple water barrier, similar to that used at the Memphis Zoo, along a small portion of the White House fence. It would help slow down anyone attempting to climb the fence and give the Secret Service more time to intercept intruders.
Emerging from the Shadows of Slavery and Jim Crow
Six years ago, I was proud to author the first and only official Congressional apology for slavery and Jim Crow, but we should do more to emerge from the shadow that still hangs over our society. On Tuesday morning, I met with Commander Ted Johnson, who recently wrote "How to Apologize for Slavery: What the U.S. Can Learn from West Africa" for The Atlantic magazine. We discussed the significance of the Congressional apology and the need for a frank national conversation on race and understanding of the lingering consequences of Jim Crow laws which continue to impact African Americans.
Giving Non-Violent Offenders a Fresh Start
Currently, those convicted of even non-violent crimes could very well face what amounts to a life sentence because the stigma of a conviction can follow convicted felons for the rest of their life. Employment, education and housing opportunities – the very things necessary to start life over – can all be denied because of a past conviction.
To address this problem, I wrote and introduced the Fresh Start Act, which would give non-violent offenders who have turned their lives around a real chance to start over again. The Fresh Start Act will help non-violent federal offenders who have already served their sentence and are now law-abiding, productive members of society get their convictions expunged from their records.
While I am still working to pass the Fresh Start Act in Congress, I am pleased to report that it is receiving bipartisan support at the state level. This week, a Utah State Legislature committee voted 9-1 to advance a fresh start bill based on my legislation. You can read a story about it here.
Saving the HOPE Scholarship and Fighting for Tennessee Students
Recently, Governor Haslam defended his "Tennessee Promise" plan that raids $300 million this year and millions more annually from the HOPE Scholarship program by arguing that our state hasn't "increased the number of Tennesseans who are going to school," and that he believes his plan is what the state needs to do that. However, a new report shows that the Governor is just plain wrong. Between 2007 and 2012, enrollment in Tennessee's public colleges actually rose by more than 22%. But while enrollment picked up substantially, state funding per student actually fell by nearly 18%, making it harder for our state's best and brightest to afford higher education.
If the Governor truly wants to increase both enrollment and graduation rates, he should support and fully fund the HOPE Scholarship program instead of crippling it by raiding more than $300 million from lottery revenue to pay for a completely untested program with no standards. The Governor should work with the General Assembly to provide full tuition HOPE Scholarship so that more high-achieving Tennesseans can go to college, earn degrees with less debt, and contribute to our state's economy.
I hope you and your loved ones have a happy and safe Thanksgiving.
As always, I remain.
Most sincerely,
Steve Cohen
Member of Congress