The Chattanooga City Council passed a symbolic resolution Tuesday in support of Insure Tennessee.
Councilman Chris Anderson, who sponsored the resolution, said it is important for the council to advocate for the 25,000 residents of Hamilton County who do not have access to affordable health insurance.
Chattanooga City Council member Chris Anderson"We represent them. We represent people who need help. We are the voice of the people who are closest to the people and it's absolutely in the purview of this council to make those voices heard," Anderson said.
Six council members voted in favor of the resolution, which throws support behind Gov. Bill Haslam's plan to spread health coverage to an estimated 280,000 low-income Tennesseans, and was twice rejected by Republican-controlled Senate committees earlier this year.
Councilmen Larry Grohn, Chip Henderson and Ken Smith abstained from the vote.
Grohn was the only councilman to speak out against the resolution, calling it a partisan issue that did not belong before the council.
"In reality, we are being asked to vote to support legislation which has already been before a select committee and it failed the legislation like any other piece of failed legislation," Grohn said. He continued, "Hopefully in the future, this council will refrain from wasting the citizen's tax dollars in the pursuit of these types of issues and/or personal agendas to garner attention outside the power of this body."
Councilman Yusuf Hakeem responded, "I do not see this as a partisan issue, I see this as a people issue."
Haslam's Insure Tennessee plan seeks to leverage federal dollars under the Affordable Care Act to extend health insurance coverage to the adults who fall in the insurance "gap," and do not have access to insurance through their job or on the health exchanges, and do not meet TennCare's current requirements for state insurance.
The legislation is expected to appear again next year before the Tennessee General Assembly.
State Rep. JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga, said it is important for local governments to be involved in passing resolutions such as this one because it is a way of informing the state legislature what is happening locally and the need here for expanded health insurance coverage.
"I feel it is important that local government gets involved because they're closest to the people," Favors said.
During last week's meeting Favors provided council members with a crash-course lesson regarding Insure Tennessee, as several members of the council said they were not educated enough on the plan to vote on the resolution.
Chester Bankston, chairman of the Hamilton County Commission, said the commission will not be considering a similar resolution.
"It's the state's business," Bankston said. "I just like to focus on the county."
Republican state Sen. Todd Gardenhire, who has been openly critical of the Insure Tennessee plan, said the Chattanooga City Council previously had an opportunity in 2011 to make indigent care a priority and chose not to do so.
In 2011, the council chose not renew a 1976 sales tax agreement between the city and county, which split an annual payment of $3 million to Erlanger hospital to cover indigent costs.
"It is disingenuous for the council to tell the legislature what to do about health care when just a few years ago they cut $1.5 million per year for indigent care," Gardenhire said in a written statement.
He continued to say that if the council wants to lecture the legislature on health care issues they first need to restore these funds.
"Until then, this resolution will be seen as what it so clearly is: thinly veiled, highly politicized hypocrisy."
Contact staff writer Kendi Anderson at kendi.anderson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592. Follow on twitter @kendi_and.