NASHVILLE - House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, today told House Insurance and Banking Committee members this morning that the House floor votes are there for passing Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's Insure Tennessee proposal but their panel is key to whether it gets there or not.
McCormick, who is carrying Haslam's resolution, told the panel's members "this committee is the one committee, quite frankly, that we have challenging numbers. And if we don't get out of this committee, this bill doesn't pass. The other members don't get a chance to vote for it on the floor."
He said he believes "we'd have the votes to pass it comfortably" on the House floor. It needs 50 of 99 votes in the GOP-dominated House.
And that, McCormick said, "is why it's so critical for you all to keep an open mind and consider whether or not you're going to let other members of the General Assembly vote on this bill."
The Insurance and Banking Committee is the first of three House committees in the special session, which began Monday, that is considering the governor's proposal to use federal Medicaid dollars to extend health care coverage to some 280,000 to 300,000 low-income Tennesseans.
Some Republicans are ideologically opposed to the plan because the federal government-subsidized program gets its funding under President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. Others are fearful it will be used against them in GOP primary elections.
During his presentation, McCormick said the proposal would enable single adults making up to 138 percent of th$16,000 or less a year - about $8 an hour - to obtain coverage to address their health needs. There are some 25,000 to 30,000 Tennessee military veterans who would benefit, he said.
He noted that for a family of four, that comes to about $32,000 a year. State lawmakers, McCormick said, get about $32,000 a year in salary and home office allowances.
"It's the same income level and we go out here every year and vote and use the state general fund to subsidize our health care that almost every one of us use."
That was a reference to a Times Free Press article published Monday that pointed out 116 of the General Assembly's 132 legislators take advantage of state government-subsidized health insurance offered to state employees.