Government Relations Update

Governor Bill Haslam made his long-awaited decision on expanding Medicaid on March 27^th, where he announced that he would not expand Medicaid coverage now, but perhaps later, under the right circumstances.  The governor made the much anticipated announcement in an address to a joint session of the Tennessee General Assembly.  The governor said he would not recommend Tennessee move toward accepting billions of federal dollars made available for expanding TennCare under the Affordable Care Act.  Instead he offered what he called the “Tennessee Plan”, a hybrid plan similar to what has been proposed in Arkansas, who chose to use the federal funds to purchase private insurance plans for eligible recipients. 

 Nationally, the American Heart Association has come out in favor of expanding Medicaid to improve health care for low-income families and individuals.  In Tennessee, the expansion of Medicaid would mean more than 181,000 low-income Tennesseans would be provided the security of quality health coverage in the first year.  It is still unclear as to what impact Governor Haslam’s decision will have in its current form.

On March 13^th, the Tennessee Obesity Taskforce and the American Heart Association held its 2013 Day on the Hill activities. 
 
This year we had well over 60 people attend and those volunteers took part in 43 scheduled one-on-one meetings with their legislators.  It was a great day and I have had a lot of positive feedback about the meetings that were held with legislators.  We would like to say THANK YOU to each of you who made time out of their busy day to attend, and for those who weren’t able to, there’s always next year!  To see the issues we discussed with our lawmakers, please visit this link: http://www.heart.org/idc/groups/heart-public/@wcm/@gsa/documents/downloadable/ucm_450456.pdf

On January 1, a new state law went into effect mandating that children will be screened at birth for Critical Congenital Heart Defects (CCHD). 

The Tennessee government relations staff worked extensively with the Tennessee Department of Health and Senate sponsor, Doug Overbey, himself diagnosed with a CCHD, to ensure doctors can detect CCHD early and provide immediate care that will reduce their future heart complications and extend their lives.

Congenital heart disease is responsible for more deaths in the first year of life than any other birth defects.  Although few newborns in Tennessee have heart defects, they can be fatal if not treated.

A pulse oximeter is a non-evasive device which uses a light emitter with infrared LEDs that shines through a reasonably translucent site with good blood flow.  It is usually attached to the infant’s foots of the palm of the hand. The procedure allows medical professionals to evaluate any potential problems with CCHD.

Read the news story here from NewsChannel5.com.

Hello Tenessee Advocates,

Here's the latest update from Rick Casebeer, our Government Relations Director, about the work going on across your state.

Healthy Vending in Memphis

On September 18, a conference call took place to discuss the Healthy Vending initiative in Shelby County/Memphis.  The initiative is being undertaken by the Shelby County Department of Health and Healthy Memphis Common Table.  We had a very good discussion with Dr. Robinson and others on the call with him updating us on the effort and with us offering any assistance that we can offer as an organization going forward.  We left the dialog open for future discussion as we described that our (AHA’s) vending standards are still being developed and are awaiting scientific outcomes.  

If you're interested in healthy vending, check out some of the stories that have been published on this topic:

• Healthy snack options added to Shelby County vending machines: http://wreg.com/2012/09/25/healthy-snack-options-added-to-shelby-county-vending-machines/
• "Shelby County Facilities Get Healthy Vending Options": http://www.memphisflyer.com/NewsBlog/archives/2012/09/26/shelby-county-facilities-get-healthy-vending-options

Advocacy Sub-Committee Conference Call

During the advocacy subcommittee conference call on September 24, 2012.  The committee agreed that the following policy priorities would be the focus of the efforts going into the upcoming Tennessee General Assembly, which begins January 8, 2013.

• Food Deserts/Access to Fresh Foods
• Procurement/Healthy Vending
• Support of Coordinated School Health Program Funding