Stories change minds more than political rhetoric. And a good story can make an issue as dry and complicated as health insurance one that people feel passionate about.
That was the message Gordon Bonnyman, attorney at the Nashville-based health advocacy group the Tennessee Justice Center, gave Tuesday night as he spoke at St. Elmo United Methodist Church.
"I'm standing in a place right now talking to you out of a tradition that has 2,000 years of teaching that if you want to make a point, tell a story," Bonnyman said. "That's what's going to turn things around. We only win if we tell stories."
Ultimately, Bonnyman and other advocates hope stories from the uninsured and worried health providers will help change the narrative surrounding Insure Tennessee - Gov. Bill Haslam's plan to expand health coverage to 280,000 people, voted down earlier this year.
Have a story?
The Tennessee Justice Center is inviting people affected by the coverage gap or those who want more information to call their coverage gap hotline: 615-900-GAP3
That's why the TJC is starting a statewide tour to share and gather such stories. Tuesday's meeting was the first of 11 stops on that tour. Afterward, advocates plan to compile the information they gather to create a detailed report at the end of the summer.
Seated in one of the pews Tuesday was Reiko Rymer, who had been invited by a friend. While Rymer said she is currently insured, she knows what it's like to have a sudden change in job or income leave you facing severe health problems without coverage. That happened to her two years ago.
"You just don't know what to do in such a situation," she said. "Do you just go about not having insurance and hope nothing happens?"
Rymer was learning much about Insure Tennessee for the first time and was grabbing extra survey sheets for some of her uninsured friends to learn more.
The "gap" refers to people who don't have access to insurance through their job or on the health exchanges, but who also don't meet TennCare's current requirements for state insurance, which is only available to children, pregnant women or people with particular disabilities.
The Tennessee Justice Center estimates there are 18,873 Hamilton County adults in that gap, including working families, students and military veterans.
Erlanger Health System insurance navigator Katherlyn Geter shared several examples of people she'd met who were in the gap, including a 64-year-old unemployed woman who lost her health insurance after a divorce and a 63-year-old uninsured man who can't afford the $83,000-a-month medicine needed to keep him alive.
"Every day I see lots of people living in the gap and trying to make ends meet," she said.
The Affordable Care Act allows states to bridge that gap by funneling them federal dollars to expand Medicaid programs. But many GOP-led states have rejected the program, saying that the fiscal ramifications of such program are too uncertain. In Tennessee, where the state had to cut its TennCare rolls several years ago, lawmakers are even more uneasy.
That Insure Tennessee proposal was killed in a state Senate committee in February, at which point everyone thought the proposal was dead.
"But y'all wouldn't stand for it," Bonnyman told those gathered at the church.
As public outcry grew over the vote, Democrats revived the bill and tried once again to pass it. It made it further through the committee process, but was voted down again.
It is unlikely that another session on Insure Tennessee will be called before next year, but Bonnyman said that when the regular legislative session convenes in early 2016, supporters will be prepared for a bigger fight.
"It's not dead," Bonnyman said. "It's unfinished business."
Contact staff writer Kate Belz at kbelz@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6673.