Medicaid expansion is a critical part of any adequate recovery plan for the pandemic. 

• Governor Bill Lee has a responsibility to address the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic with real, lasting support.
• With tax revenues falling while health care needs are rising, there is an opportunity to consider new data and make the right decision for Tennessee.

Medicaid expansion would provide 1.4 billion dollars to our state budget that would help us weather the current economic crisis. 

• Medicaid expansion would be a net gain for our state budget.
• Right now, there are 1.4 billion dollars of yearly federal tax dollars in Washington waiting for us to use in our state.
• In this state of emergency, Governor Lee can expand Medicaid more easily than at any other time.

The coverage gap – the number of uninsured Tennesseans who would be covered by Medicaid expansion – is growing. 

• 300,000 uninsured Tennesseans and approximately 86,000 additional Tennesseans will be in the coverage gap in the next 6 months.
• If the TN legislature brought home these federal tax dollars by expanding Medicaid, it would allow our state to provide health insurance to over 300,000 currently uninsured Tennesseans, giving them financial security and access to necessary health care, including emergency COVID-19 testing and treatment.
• It’s easy to fall in the gap. In this crisis, many people are losing work, and that will mean more Tennesseans (and Tennessee kids) will be uninsured and looking for support.

The failure of our leaders to expand Medicaid worsens health inequities. 

• Each day that Gov. Lee delays expansion leads to more health inequity that disproportionately affects communities of color and rural communities who are already unjustly underserved.
• Lack of insurance and unmanaged chronic conditions have led to significant racial health disparities in COVID-19 deaths in Tennessee. Medicaid expansion is a lifeline to adequate preventive and acute care.
• Medicaid expansion would provide funding that can be put to good use to bring resources into the communities that need them the most.

Medicaid expansion will provide life-saving medical care, financial security for families, and will provide economic benefits to the state budget and struggling rural hospitals. 

• Tennessee hospitals can’t afford to wait. Medicaid expansion will provide quality insurance, generate 15,000 new jobs, and keep our rural hospitals open.
• Hospitals in states that expanded Medicaid are six times less likely to close.