But then, the Tennessee Governor is making the largest cuts to health care in the history of the country. Disabled and sick protesters have been camped out in his office suite inside the state Capitol since June 20.
The Governor decided it was better to let them stay than to create the media nightmare of arresting folks in wheelchairs.
The Governor continues to refuse to take their demands seriously. They've told Governor Bredesen that they will not leave until he stops sending out health care termination notices and agrees to hold public meetings designed to find a way to reform the state's expanded Medicaid program, a way that does not include cutting hundreds of thousands of sick, disabled, elderly and poor people from the health care rolls.
The Governor seems to be employing a number of strategies designed to make the protesters so uncomfortable that they leave. At various times during the four-week long protest the State Troopers who guard the protesting TennCare enrollees during the night have forced them to make do without an adequate supply of food and water.
With Bredesen set to take health care insurance away from as many as 323,000 elderly, sick, disabled and poor people and severely limit the coverage of hundreds of thousands more, Republicans think they have a good shot at taking the state away from the Democrat in 2006. The Democratic Governor is more popular with Republicans than Democrats.
Please Contact Governor Bredesen and tell him what you think:
Phone: 615.741.2001, Fax: 615.532.9711, Email: phil.bredesen@state.tn.us
Sign the petition at Families USA: Petition to Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen: Don't Cut TennCare
Pictorial timeline of the beginning of the Save TennCare protest inside the Capitol.
People who may die from Governor Bredesen's TennCare Axe here.
Tennessee Health Care Campaign
Independent Living Center with Pictures of Protest
Previous TennCare Protest posts
See also:
Tennessee Independent Media
GeoTennCare
Sharon Cobb
Tag: tenncare
