Sen. Katrina Robinson Takes Leading Role in Bipartisan Medicaid Expansion Effort
NASHVILLE — Sen. Katrina Robinson (D-Memphis) will be the leading Democrat in the state Senate for the bipartisan legislative effort to expand Medicaid. Robinson will be a co-sponsor on Senate Bill 2526 with Sen. Richard Briggs, a Republican doctor from Knoxville who filed the legislation.
“Whether you live in Orange Mound or Knox County, no family should face financial ruin because a loved one got sick or hurt in an accident, but that’s exactly what’s happening,” Robinson said. “Everyone should be able to see a doctor when they need to without going broke and this Medicaid expansion effort puts us one step closer to that goal.”
Nearly 7 percent of the population — or about 450,000 Tennesseans — do not have any health coverage, largely because they cannot afford it, according to a recent University of Tennessee study.
If approved, the measure would direct the governor to expand the state Medicaid program — based on the “Insure Tennessee” model developed by former Gov. Bill Haslam — to include citizens who do not qualify for traditional Medicaid-funded health coverage.
Under the federal law, Tennesseans who have jobs but are not offered health insurance through work, could obtain health coverage through TennCare, the state’s Medicaid program. Enrollment would be limited to Tennesseans who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line — $23,791 for a single parent. An estimated 300,000 Tennesseans may currently qualify.
Medicaid expansion would infuse $1.4 billion into Tennessee’s health care economy — revenue that is desperately needed in a state that’s seen the highest rate of hospital closures per capita in the nation.
