Congressman Cohen Speaks in support of The MED and the Children's Health Insurance Program

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Speaker. It came up in the point of order about a question of an earmark, and it was raised by the Republican side that that earmark was in my district. And they questioned something that maybe I should have done.

The fact is that part of the bill is in my district. It's The Med, a public hospital that renders charity care to people in Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and the boothill of Missouri; a hospital almost out of business because of how much charity care that it renders to the folks in those States.

I have no interest in that hospital but that as a congressman who supports that hospital. No personal interest whatsoever. I have great political interest in it because it serves my constituents, the people of Mississippi, and Arkansas. It is questionable whether that is an earmark or not. It was put in with the help of people across the aisle, and I appreciate my Republican colleagues from the State of Tennessee who helped get this in the bill because they see the need to help folks from Mississippi and Arkansas get health care that is provided at The Med and is not reimbursed to The Med. They lost $20 million in funding last year, the citizens of Shelby County who provided that funding at The Med for people in Mississippi and Arkansas, and that funding should continue.

Patients don't stop at State lines and neither should funding. And all this provision does is allow States to request Medicaid reimbursement for their citizens being treated at The Med in Memphis, Tennessee, the ``City of Good Abode.'' I am proud to be the Congressman from Tennessee Nine, and I am proud to represent The Med and take umbrage at any suggestion that I violated any rules in seeing that I worked with my colleagues from Tennessee on the Republican and Democrat side to see that this inequity was corrected. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.