Tennessee Health Care Campaign (THCC)
Health Care is a Human Right
Action Alert for State and Federal Efforts
March 13, 2007

1. Marian Wright Edelman - She is speaking at 9:30 AM at War Memorial Auditorium on Wednesday morning, March 14, Nashville, TN. This is late reminder, but if you can come, you will not be disappointed. Open to the public. Details below:

2. Jackson, TN - Health Care Training on Cover Tennessee, TennCare and Heath care in Jackson this Saturday, March 17. Sign up now. Details below.

3. Join the Movement - Host your own screening of Collateral Damage: Bad Medicine for Tennessee. Details below.

4. Health Care in Tennessee - Weekly radio show every Wednesday, 4-5 Central Time. Details below.

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1. THREE SISTERS, THREE ILLNESSES, NO HEALTH COVERAGE, by Marian Wright Edelman

The Children's Defense Fund is working tirelessly to raise awareness about the ways families across the country are struggling to get their children the health care they need. Here's the story of a California family where three daughters all struggle with serious health issues without health coverage.

Janneth, Brenda, and Guadalupe, sisters who live in Alameda County just outside San Francisco, all have severe medical conditions. Janneth, 16, the oldest, has chronic tonsillitis; Brenda, 13, has asthma; and Guadalupe, 9, has anemia. None of the girls have health care coverage. Over the past year, Janneth has missed several days of school because of the symptoms associated with tonsillitis, including fever, frequent coughing, throat swelling, inability to eat, and weakness. This has resulted in a significant decrease in her grades. Brenda can't participate in moderate and heavy physical activities, including physical education, because she doesn’t have an Albuterol pump to help manage and control her asthma. She worries that she may have an asthma attack and need to be rushed to the emergency room. Guadalupe misses occasional school days because of her anemia. Anemia is normally a controllable illness with proper vitamins and medicine, but because her family can't afford the medicine to treat her condition, Guadalupe suffers from fatigue, loss of appetite, and hair loss.

The last time all three girls had health coverage was about a year ago. Their mother, Teresa, says they lost coverage because the Medicaid office received her reauthorization packet late. Teresa reapplied two more times but the Medicaid office said the second and third reapplication packets arrived late as well. As Teresa says, "That’s all they ever say... 'Your papers arrived late!'" Frustrated, Teresa went to her social worker at her local health clinic, Clinica de la Raza, for help, and sent in a fourth reapplication packet. Teresa also left a voicemail message for her caseworker at the Medicaid office giving them her new telephone number and requesting an update on the status of her children's health coverage. So far, she still hasn't received a call back.

Teresa confides that she is worried especially about Janneth and Brenda. Last year, the last time Janneth was seen by her medical provider, she was advised to have her tonsils removed because of her chronic tonsillitis. But because Janneth lost her health coverage, she hasn’t been able to have the operation. Teresa also worries about how to meet all of her family's basic other needs. She reports she had to leave her employment at a fabric factory to care for her sick daughters. Her husband works, but he doesn't earn enough to cover all the family's expenses, and they now have additional debt because of unpaid medical expenses from the past year.

Teresa says, "I just don’t know how we are going to pay for rent, utilities, food, and everything else. I'm always stealing from Peter to pay Paul."

Should any parents have to watch their children struggle against preventable or treatable illnesses this way, or watch their family fall further and further into debt as they try to keep up with the help their children need? If you believe our nation can do better for its families, then you need to tell your elected officials that we and they must do better and make health coverage for all children with a streamlined enrollment process a reality this year. Marian Wright Edelman is President of the Children's Defense Fund and its Action Council whose Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.
Children's Defense Fund

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2. Regional Training Meeting on CoverTN & Health Care Reform this Saturday: Important Regional Training Meetings coming up this weekend in Jackson, TN. Find out the latest on CoverTN and all its moving parts, expanding coverage, dental care for children, making AccessTN more affordable, and learning what other states are doing.

Regional Training Meeting

This Saturday from 10 AM to 3 PM

To Register: Call Toll Free - 1- 877- 431- 7083 or email the person listed.

Sign up - Lunch will be provided

Over two-thirds of all voters favor health care access for all Americans, a solid majority, even if it means higher taxes or a major government role?

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3. Join The Movement: Host Your Own Screening

WHEN ONE OF US HURTS, ALL OF US HURT. That’s the message in Collateral Damage: Bad Medicine in Tennessee, a compelling 25-minute film by Julie Winokur of Talking Eyes Media. Collateral Damage illustrates the injustice and suffering caused by the single largest Medicaid cuts in history. This film intimately explores the catastrophic impact of cutting 170,000 people from Tennessee’s Medicaid program and the implications of these actions nationwide.

During the week of April 23-30, 2007, people across the State of Tennessee are gathering to screen Collateral Damage to make a call for change. You too can make a difference. People across the country are being invited to host screenings in their communities in solidarity with the people of Tennessee, and with all Americans, who deserve access to affordable health care.

Use this film to educate, agitate & mobilize for universal health care.
Log onto http://www.talkingeyesmedia.org/for step-by-step instructions on organizing a screening, leading a discussion group and energizing people to take action. For more information call: 973-746-9096.

1- 877- 431- 7083