Expanding TennCare to Help Tennesseans in the Current Coverage Gap
Dear Friend,
In the last week, I was honored to be recognized for my record of protecting our environment and I encouraged the Governor to expand our state’s Medicaid program and help the thousands of Tennesseans trapped in the coverage gap. Keep reading to learn more.
Helping Ensure More Tennesseans Have Access to Quality Health Coverage
Honoring the Leaders in the Fight for Civil Rights
Voting for Our Environment
Building a Healthier Memphis
Fully Funding the HOPE Scholarships
Join My February 25th Telephone Town Hall
Emerging Leaders Sought from Memphis Area
Ensuring Memphians Get the Tax Returns They Deserve
Helping Memphians Get Covered
United States Naval Academy Summer Programs
Helping Veterans Become Homeowners
Grant Announcements
Helping Ensure More Tennesseans Have Access to Quality Health Coverage
There are thousands of Tennesseans who don’t have access to quality health care because of Governor Haslam’s inaction, so I sent a letter to the Governor once again urging him to expand our state’s Medicaid program, TennCare. Governors in other states who oppose expanding Medicaid like those in Arkansas, Iowa, and Michigan, have been able to reconcile their concerns with the best interests of those they represent—but Governor Haslam has not. I also pledged to help him in the effort to provide coverage to those caught in this coverage gap in my letter to the Governor, which you can read here.
Honoring Leaders in the Fight for Civil Rights
Late last Friday, I attended the United Negro College Fund’s National Alumni Council Legacy Award Gala. At the gala, I was glad to accept a legacy award on behalf of my friend and colleague in the U.S. House of the Representatives, Congressman John Lewis. The award is meant to honor outstanding individuals who have a long-standing record of encouraging students and colleagues to realize their full potential and have helped others find ways to achieve their best. I am honored to serve alongside Congressman Lewis, a courageous leader of our nation’s civil rights movement, who is clearly deserving of this award and I look forward to presenting him the award when Congress returns to Washington next week.
I’m proud to announce that of all the members of the Tennessee Congressional Delegation, I was awarded the highest grade for my votes to protect the environment in the League of Conservation Voters’ (LCV) 2013 National Environmental Scorecard. It is an honor to be recognized by the League of Conservation Voters for my record on the environment. If we are going to improve the air we breathe, the water we drink and preserve our environment for future generations, we must treat our planet with the care it deserves. Doing so will also help reduce our dependence on foreign oil, lower energy costs for American families and small businesses, and establish a clean energy economy that will help create green jobs across the country. I look forward to continuing my work on protecting and improving our environment.
Among the many benefits of the Affordable Care Act is free preventive care for services like mammograms that can detect breast cancer. A New York Times story noted that Memphis is “the deadliest major American city for African-American women with breast cancer.”
The racial disparity in breast cancer outcomes is deplorable, but we can take steps to reduce it. A primary reason for the high mortality rate among African American women is late diagnosis, when the disease is harder to treat and has much lower survival rates. That’s why I launched my “Building a Healthier Memphis” series on wellness in the Ninth District last week by hosting an expert panel discussion and education session about this disparity and what we can do to address it and improve outcomes for victims of breast cancer in our city. I’m encouraged by all of the Memphians who attended the event to learn how they can help improve their own health and the health of their families and communities, and I look forward to hosting the next “Building a Healthier Memphis” event soon.
Everyone in the Ninth District should know that provisions of the President’s Affordable Care Act enable them to get mammograms with no co-pays or deductibles. Taking advantage of the Affordable Care Act could help save lives in our city and around the country. And don’t forget that the open season deadline to enroll in health coverage for this year at HealthCare.gov is March 31st.
Fully Funding the HOPE Scholarships
Over the last 10 years, the HOPE Scholarship program that I worked for 20 years as a State Senator to create has been an outstanding success that has provided $2.9 billion to Tennessee’s best and brightest. And while this funding has been critical to helping students attend college and complete 4-year degrees, the HOPE Scholarship has never fully funded college scholarships, as intended, because state lawmakers have not allowed it to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of higher education.
Today’s HOPE Scholarships pay a smaller portion of college costs than it did 10 years ago and, if Governor Haslam’s newly-announced plan to slash the first two years of HOPE Scholarships by 25% is implemented, it will provide even smaller scholarships for freshmen and sophomores. The first two years of college are crucial for students finding their way. With scholarships paying a smaller portion of tuition, families will have to pay more and students may need to work more hours while juggling their scholastic responsibilities, making academic success and retention of the HOPE Scholarship more difficult. Today’s college students are graduating with more student loan debt than ever before, crippling their chances of economic success.
To ensure that HOPE Scholarships continue to help Tennessee’s students afford college and succeed, the program must keep pace with the rising cost of higher education. But the Governor’s newly-announced “Tennessee Promise” actually cuts funding from high-achieving students beginning 4-year degree programs. I am extremely concerned and remain cautious about any plan that would make it harder for our state’s proven young people to begin attending the best universities in Tennessee, or any plan that places additional financial burden on schools like the University of Memphis which are already struggling to keep costs down and provide high-quality educations.
Rather than raiding the scholarship fund’s excess to create a new government program, those funds should be used to provide full HOPE scholarships. Tennesseans voted to repeal our state’s constitutional prohibition on lotteries based on the idea of replicating the success of Georgia’s successful HOPE program which provides full college scholarships. That promise to the people moves farther from being realized with every new idea to siphon money from the scholarship program. Once scholarships are fully funded, the excess funds would be better used, as I personally expressed last year to Governor Haslam, by raising the income cap on or raising the amount of Aspire Awards that give middle- and low-income students who work hard extra help to give them a fair shot at success.
Join My February 25th Telephone Town Hall
On Tuesday, February 25th, at 6:30PM CT I will host a telephone town hall to answer your questions and discuss a variety of topics including what Memphians can do to reduce the breast cancer outcome racial disparity and how everyone can better take advantage of the Affordable Care Act. I hope you can join our telephone town call later this month. If you would like to participate in this telephone town hall on the evening of Tuesday, February 25th, please fill out the form here with your home phone number.
Emerging Leaders Sought from Memphis Area
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has launched recruitment for its 2014 Emerging Leaders executive-level training initiative, formerly known as e200, in the Memphis area.
There are 15 slots available this year for established small business owners in Memphis/Shelby County to receive approximately 100 hours of free training and the opportunity to work with experienced mentors, attend workshops, and develop connections with their peers, city leaders, and financial communities. Recruitment is now underway with the deadline for applying continuing through March 21, 2014.
Classes are scheduled to begin in late April and will be held Wednesday evenings at the Renaissance Center, 555 Beale Street, in Memphis Eligibility requirements include: having annual revenues of at least $400,000, being in business for at least 3 years and have at least one employee, other than his or her self. As a part of the program, each participant will develop a three-year strategic growth action plan with benchmarks and performance targets to help their company emerge as self-sustaining business that creates jobs and contributes to the economic growth of Memphis.
Eighty-nine business owners in Memphis have graduated from the program over the past six years of Emerging Leaders classes. According to SBA Tennessee District Director, Walter Perry, “we anticipate a large number of applicants for the Class of 2014 as this is an opportunity for qualified Memphis-area small business owners to benefit from a ‘mini MBA’ curriculum that enables them to develop a growth plan specific to their business.”
To apply, go to www.sba.gov/emergingleaders and complete the on-line application.
Ensuring Memphians Get the Tax Returns They Deserve
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is too important for people to overlook, and everyone who is eligible should claim it when filing their taxes. But historically, eligible taxpayers in Memphis and Shelby County have not taken full advantage of the program—last year alone, as much as $70 million in potential tax credits were left on the table by area taxpayers.
Memphians shouldn’t pay more than they owe, and they should receive every penny they deserve in refunds. That’s why I attended the grand opening of one of 15 new Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites that recently opened throughout Shelby County to provide guidance and advice free of charge to ensure that eligible Shelby County citizens take advantage of programs like the EITC and get the tax refund they are entitled to. Click here to find a VITA site near you to help ensure you get every penny you are owed.
All Memphians should have quality health insurance and the President’s landmark Affordable Care Act is making affordable, higher-quality coverage available to people who have not had access to it in the past. Luckily, many who have been unable to afford quality coverage in the past are now eligible to enroll in Tennessee’s Health Insurance Marketplace. Please don’t forget that the open season deadline to enroll in health coverage for this year at HealthCare.gov is March 31st. And if you do not have health insurance coverage, you may also be eligible to save money on your health care premiums in the Marketplace.
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 1 (800) 318-2596, visit www.HealthCare.gov, or call Tennessee’s navigator, Seedco, at (901) 528-8341. 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. If you are one of the millions of Americans who need health insurance, you can sign up for coverage for 2014 until the open enrollment period closes on March 31st, 2014. Visit www.healthcare.gov today to look at your options.
The Affordable Care Act is already working for families across the Ninth District. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 147,000 individuals in the district now have health insurance that covers preventive services without co-pays, $3.1 million in insurance premiums have been returned to consumers, and more than 5,000 seniors on Medicare paid a total of $5.9 million less for their prescription medications as we continue to close the ‘donut hole.’ Also, health insurance companies can no longer discriminate against patients with pre-existing conditions and young adults up to age 26 can now stay on their parents’ insurance plan.
Many of the Marketplace website issues that have been in the news have been resolved. However, the Marketplace website is only one tool that you can use to sign up for coverage. If you are having trouble accessing the website, please do not hesitate to call the Marketplace Hotline at 1 (800) 318-2596 or visit the Affordable Care Act Navigators at Seedco's Mid-South office at 22 North Front Street (Suite 900) for in-person help. Seedco can also be reached by phone at (901) 528-8341, and if you have any other questions, you should feel free to call my office at (901) 544-4131.
United States Naval Academy Summer Programs
Each year, the United States Naval Academy invites more than 3,000 students to Annapolis, Maryland, to participate in its summer programs. The Academy’s summer STEM program, which is now accepting applications here, gives rising 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th graders the opportunity to learn from some of the best college professors in the country and work in world-class lab facilities. The Academy’s Summer Seminars gives rising 12th graders the opportunity to find out if they have what it takes to be midshipmen by allowing them to experience the rigorous academics, physical challenges, and student life at the Naval Academy. More information about the Summer Seminar and how to apply is available here.
Helping Veterans Become Homeowners
Last year, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs helped a record number of veterans obtain mortgage loans and become homeowners. In guaranteeing nearly 630,000 home loans, the VA’s Loan Guarantee program helped more veterans become homeowners or move to a new home than at any point in its 70-year history. Not only is this great news for veterans, but it also is another sign that our housing market is rebounding—and that is good news for everyone. The VA Loan Guarantee program has some of the lowest foreclosure rates around and, along with offering low interest rates, their loans do not require a down payment from first-time buyers. If you are a veteran looking to purchase a home, you can learn more about the program here.
I regularly release a list of grant announcements from federal agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Transportation, and others. These federal funding opportunities are available to faith-based and neighborhood associations, nonprofits and other community organizations in the Ninth District. The announcements are updated regularly on my website.
As always, I remain.
Most sincerely,
Steve Cohen
Member of Congress