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Working for health care justice |
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Tennessee
Health Care Campaign (THCC)
Health Care is a Human Right
Action Alert for
State & Federal Health Legislation
April 23, 2007
Be heard: Take 5 minutes a day to respond to Action Alerts.
THCC
is working on practical solutions for the short-term and long-term,
and we need your help. What can you do to improve and solve the problems
associated with being uninsured or under-insured? Plenty! Link
to PDF version. Also see Health Troubles
in Tennessee.
1. Get involved
in your community.
Join THCC’s
Local Organizing Group (LOG) in your area. The LOG is made up of volunteers,
like you, who are concerned about the state of health care and want
to act for improvement. Key to providing health care for all is educating
and inspiring citizens at the local level, and the LOG’s work
toward that end through local activities and by plugging into state
and national events. Call 1-877-431-7083 for details.
2. Play it forward
-- Host a screening of Collateral Damage: Bad Medicine in Tennessee.
Find
a screening in your community. More details at http://www.talkingeyesmedia.org/
3. Support state and national initiatives for sensible improvements.
A. Contact your STATE senator and representative on these key bills:
Monday: Establish a Statewide Study Commission on Health Care. Is anyone looking out for the 1,000,000 uninsured and 1,000,000 under-insured Tennesseans, and looking for solutions? This commission will do this.
SB2046 (Tracy) ; HB1976 (Hensley)
Tuesday: Expand Scope of Oversight Committee on TennCare to include Cover Tennessee and Safety Net Programs. During the TennCare years uninsurable people could get TennCare, Medicare enrollees could get prescription drugs, and many uninsured children could get insurance. These programs had one budget. Now, these programs are in at least five (5) separate programs with 5 different budgets in at least three (3) different department.
SB1017 (Tracy) ; HB644 (Turner)
Wednesday: Amend Access Tennessee to provide affordable coverage to uninsurable people. At least 67,000 low-income, chronically ill people were cut from TennCare. People have died and families are struggling to make it by. They need an affordable option. What was done last year was not enough.
SB744 (Jackson) ; HB646 (Turner)Thursday: Add Dental Care to CoverKids. Cavities are the most preventiable childhood disease. Tennessee is the only state that does not offer dental care as part of its State Childrens Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
SB1194 (Black) ; HB487 (Montgomery)
Contact your STATE senator and representative toll-free:
1-800-449-8366 and listen for voice prompt to dial by last name; or, go online @ http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/B. Tell US Senators Alexander and Corker and your US Representative to support SCHIP Reauthorization with at least $50 billion in additional funding for the next 5 years. Without this funding about 1.5 million children will loss their health care and 3-4 million eligible children will not be able to sign-up. Contact members of Congress online at:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt (search by state, name or ZIP Code)
THCC is a nonprofit statewide consumer advocacy group that relies on generous financial support from people like you to fuel the work for health care justice. Won’t you please give today? Your donation is tax deductible, and truly appreciated! You can give through this website. Thank you!
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Health Care in Tennessee (Radio Free Nashville): Listen to Radio Free Nashville every Wednesday, 4-5 PM Central Time, on line, "Steaming Audio." This week George Haley will talk about the latest in TennCare and health care efforts in other states. Since Radio Free Nashville is a low-power community radio station, most of you will only be able to listen via streaming audio. To listen in to Radio Free Nashville. CLICK HERE.
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Take care,
Tony Garr, tgarr@thcc2.org; Susan McKay, smckay@thcc2.org; Lori Smith, lsmith@thcc2.org
Tennessee Health Care Campaign
1103 Chapel Ave., Nashville, TN 37206
1- 877- 431- 7083