Cohen to Haslam: Help Tennesseans Without Health Coverage by Expanding Medicaid

[MEMPHIS, TN] – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) has once again urged Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam to expand Tennessee’s Medicaid program, TennCare, and help Tennesseans who are caught in a coverage gap. Thousands of Tennesseans don’t have access to quality health care because of the State’s inaction. Other states whose Governors oppose expanding Medicaid like Arkansas, Iowa, and Michigan, have been able to reconcile their concerns with the best interests of those they represent—but Tennessee has not.

Text of Congressman Cohen’s letter to Governor Haslam follows:

Dear Governor Haslam,

I am concerned that Tennesseans have been uniquely disadvantaged this winter as we experience record frigid temperatures in the Mid-South and throughout the country. The extreme cold coinciding with the flu season has left many people ill without anywhere to turn. Thousands of Tennesseans could have access to quality, affordable health care through expansion of the TennCare program but, as you know, they do not because our state has not accepted Medicaid expansion as prescribed in the Affordable Care Act. I am disappointed that it has not even submitted a waiver application to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in order implement a plan like those in effect in the states of Arkansas, Michigan, and Iowa.

I urge you to echo the actions of Governors across the country who expanded their Medicaid programs. For example, Governor Gary Herbert expanded Medicaid in Utah because “doing nothing is not an option.” Governor John Kasich expanded his state’s program in Ohio because, as he explained, “I believe [expanding Medicaid] is a matter of life and death.” In Arizona, Governor Jan Brewer approached the situation from a different angle when she stated that “Try as we might, the law was upheld by the United States Supreme Court. The Affordable Care Act is not going anywhere,” and so her state would expand the program. No matter the reason, the outcome is the same: millions of low income individuals from these states now have access to health care but the same population in our state does not.

Tennessee has already missed out on over $100 million in federal funding that could have been invested in the health of our residents through the expansion of TennCare. I am deeply concerned that the state is not acting in the best interest of these constituents and I have approached CMS to inquire about the status of Tennessee’s waiver application but I was informed that CMS is awaiting action by you. While I am encouraged that your staff has been in recent contact with the staff at CMS, I urge you to act swiftly in the best interest of Tennessee’s physical and fiscal health and submit your waiver application as soon as possible.

The waiver applications that CMS has accepted from the states of Arkansas, Iowa, and Michigan have laid groundwork on which Tennessee can base its plan. I am sincerely disappointed that these other states acted quickly in order to reconcile the concerns of their legislatures with the best interest of those they represent, but that Tennessee has not been able to do so.

I hope you will keep me apprised of your work to submit a waiver application to CMS in order to expand TennCare to cover those Tennesseans who fall into the coverage gap that comes from non-expansion. I would like to assist on this issue and am offering my help to you, but first Tennessee needs to submit a formal waiver application that I can support. Once that application is submitted I will contact Secretary Sebelius to offer my support.

I am dedicated to seeing this issue resolved as soon as possible and I hope that you will contact me so that I may lend my assistance.

As always, I remain,

Most sincerely,

Steve Cohen
Member of Congress