People’s Action is releasing this statement on behalf of our member organization Tennessee Citizen Action.

Today, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam testified before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) during its hearing “Stabilizing Premiums and Helping Individuals in the Individual Insurance Market for 2018.”

Andy Spears, executive director of Tennessee Citizen Action issued the following statement:

“Gov. Haslam knows how important the Affordable Care Act is to the 300,000 Tennesseans who finally have health care and need the ACA strengthened, not sabotaged.

“Now Tennessee should cover 200,000 people more by finally expanding Medicaid. As Gov. Haslam suggested, our rural hospitals need that expansion, too. We also applaud Gov. Haslam for supporting Medicare negotiating lower prices with drug corporations.

“The bottom line is that everybody in Tennessee should have good health care they can afford, without discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions, higher premiums or deductibles, caps on coverage, loss of essential health benefits, or watering down of coverage, including Medicaid.”