Calling for Expansion of Medicaid
Dear Friend, This week, I continued to make the case that Tennessee and 10 other states should expand their Medicaid programs to help working people who are being denied coverage get and stay healthy. I also introduced a bill to protect Civil Rights memorials and monuments by holding vandals accountable, celebrated Black History Month, reintroduced the Baseball Diplomacy Act, spoke to the Midtown Rotary Club about securing millions in funding for local community projects, and provided a health tip about Hepatitis C, a disease that disproportionately affects African Americans. Keep reading and follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to see what I am doing as it happens. Calling for Expansion of Medicaid Introducing the Civil Rights Legacy Protection Act Celebrating Black History Month Introducing the Baseball Diplomacy Act Highlighting Local Community Funding at Rotary Club Calling for Expansion of Medicaid Earlier this month, I re-launched the State Medicaid Expansion Caucus in an effort to provide health coverage to the 2.2 million working and middle class Americans who have been denied coverage in 11 states, including Tennessee. It seems our state legislators are ideologically opposed to helping hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans who would benefit from the expansion of TennCare, despite the fact that all costs of expansion would be fully covered in the first several years, followed by covering 90 percent of the costs. Covering those with chronic illnesses who go to emergency rooms for care and can’t pay their bills is threatening access to health care for everyone. Expansion would save lives and ultimately save money. Major newspapers in Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville all published an op-ed I wrote this week advocating for Tennessee to finally expand Medicaid or for my Congressional colleagues to pursue alternative measures to ensure Americans are covered in Tennessee and every other state. See that article in The Commercial Appeal here. Introducing the Civil Rights Legacy Protection Act The plaque commemorating the heinous 1955 lynching of Emmett Till outside Money, Mississippi, is regularly vandalized. Other important monuments and memorials to our Civil Rights legacy are often subject to similar acts of malicious mischief. That is why on Tuesday I reintroduced the Civil Rights Legacy Protection Act, penalizing vandals of places that mark our rich history and calling on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission to identify monuments and memorials that need these protections. See my release on the measure here. Celebrating Black History Month All month, and beyond, I will be celebrating Black History and recognizing African Americans who have shaped our nation’s freedom, law, history, culture, science and industry. Locally, I like to remind constituents and friends of the contributions made by Ida B. Wells, Russell Sugarmon, Odell Horton, Maxine and Vasco Smith, Isaac Hayes, W.C. Handy, Robert Church, and so many more, living and dead, who transformed our nation. Reintroducing the Baseball Diplomacy Act Earlier today, I reintroduced the Baseball Diplomacy Act to eliminate barriers to Cuban athletes entering the U.S. on non-immigrant visas only for the duration of the baseball season. Some of our greatest baseball players are from Cuba or learned the game there, including my childhood hero, Hall of Famer Minnie Minoso, ‘The Cuban Comet’ of the Chicago White Sox, and Randy Arozarena, who played for the Memphis Redbirds early in his career. The measure would allow players to retain their Cuban citizenship and return to Cuba with their earnings, rather than having to renounce their citizenship and abandon their families to play baseball in the United States. See my release here. Highlighting Local Community Funding at Rotary Club On Tuesday evening, I spoke to the Midtown Rotary Club at the Southern College of Optometry about my successful efforts to secure millions of dollars in funding for community projects in Memphis. I mentioned the huge improvements being made at Tom Lee Park; funding for pediatric intensive care ambulances for Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and equipment for the Church Health Center and Regional One; and $3 million for the redevelopment of Melrose High School in Orange Mound, among many others. I am proud to deliver for the 9th Congressional District, and I was pleased to share my successes with the Rotarians. Our new U.S. Attorney, Kevin Ritz, spoke at the Downtown Rotary meeting Tuesday and outlined his plans for the office. I was impressed with his remarks and his thoughtful approach to his new position and I am immensely proud to have recommended him to President Biden. Hepatitis C is a liver infection caused by the hepatitis C virus and disproportionately affects African Americans. Hepatitis C is spread through contact with blood from an infected person. Most people become infected with the hepatitis C virus by sharing needles or other equipment used to prepare and inject drugs. For some people, hepatitis C is a short-term illness, but for more than half of people who become infected with the hepatitis C virus, it becomes a long-term, chronic infection. There is no vaccine for hepatitis C. The best way to prevent hepatitis C is by avoiding behaviors that can spread the disease, especially injecting drugs. Getting tested for hepatitis C is important, because treatments can cure most people with hepatitis C in 8 to 12 weeks. See the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on Hepatitis C here. “Our country’s founding document, The Declaration of Independence, states, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equally and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’ As the great Barbara Jordan once pointed out, these words were eloquent in their articulation but incomplete in their application. Our community’s journey has been both triumphant and turbulent.” – from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ 2023 Black History Month statement. As always, I remain Most sincerely, Steve Cohen |