2. FEDERAL UPDATES

3. Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson
Moves funding for Medicaid expansion, premiums tax credits, and cost-sharing reduction subsidies to a block grant that will completely end in 2026
Places a per capita cap on Medicaid
Repeals individual and employer mandates
Repeals the medical device tax
Gives states the ability to waive ACA protections

4. What about Bernie? Universal health coverage is goal
Single payer is a way to get there

5. CHIP September 30, 2017 – deadline to reauthorize
Senate Finance Committee announced a bipartisan agreement to 5-year extension with a phase out of the 23% bump to 11.5% in 2020 and completely gone in 2021
Legislative language should be released soon

6. What can you do?
Sign on!
Call your representative and senators and tell them to vote for a clean reauthorization of CHIP funding

7. HELP Committee Hearings
Lots of Tennessee influence
Chairman Sen. Alexander
Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak
Governor Haslam
Dr. Manny Sethi of Vanderbilt and Healthy Tennessee

8. HELP Hearing Testimony
Encouraging:
Advocating for extension of CSRs
Pushing for Reinsurance
Ominous:
- Asking for unspecified “state flexibility” in the regulation of insurance, suggesting relaxation of consumer protections

9. Cuts to enrollment and outreach assistance
The administration cut funding for ACA outreach and enrollment by an average of 43% nationally based on performance, despite pulling funding for outreach at the end of last open enrollment, leading to 30,000 fewer people enrolling in coverage
THCC leading this campaign
Outreach is the best may to reach healthier, oftentimes younger people who bring the costs of the risk pool down

10. What has this funding accomplished in Tennessee?
In , certified application counselors helped enroll more than 11,000 individuals in ACA Qualified Health Programs, CHIP, TennCare, or Medicare Savings Accounts through more than 2,400 in-person outreach and education events reaching over 97,000 people. They reached over 3.8 million Tennesseans through radio, TV, newspaper, and social media.

11. What can you do?
Request meetings/calls with our Senators and HELP committee staff.
Write letters to the editor

12. What’s our message? Thank Sen. Alexander for his efforts.
Ask him to stay focused on market stabilization, and leave repeal and Medicaid alone.
Don’t weaken insurance protections for consumers with pre-existing conditions
Enrollment assistance and outreach are essential to market stabilization.

13. STATE UPDATES

14. Work requirements
There is a handout on work requirements that everyone has

15. What can you do?
Share the stories of anyone you know who has had trouble working due to health issues and caregiving responsibilities

16. Closing the coverage gap
Opioid epidemic
September is National Recovery Month

17. What can you do?
Make the case for comprehensive Medicaid services, rather than targeted services alone, for people with substance abuse disorders.

18. Questions?