HOLSTON RUSHES to aid TennCare subscribers
Following the passage of a resolution at Annual Conference on June 15, Holston leaders and churches in Tennessee immediately began a campaign to help thousands of TennCare subscribers at risk for losing their health insurance.
The resolution calls for Tennessee-based churches to identify members and community residents affected by the "mandatory disenrollments" from TennCare. The resolution also urges church members to help TennCare subscribers fill out necessary forms by the state's July 6 deadline - and to continue to assist and minister to people who lose their coverage after July 6.
Within days after the resolution passed in Lake Junaluska, Holston churches and members had arranged clinics to train volunteers willing to help TennCare subscribers fill out their forms.
Subscribers who fail to fill out these "brown pages" by July 6 automatically lose their health coverage, according to Steve Hodges, chair of the conference Outreach/Advocacy Team.
Hodges, who sponsored the resolution at Annual Conference, is leading Holston's effort to help the 323,000 at-risk subscribers - 43 percent of whom are estimated to be in east Tennessee. Hodges is also executive director of Jubilee Project in Sneedville, Tenn.
During the week of June 27, two Holston churches had joined numerous social agencies in offering training sessions on filling out the forms. Asbury (Greeneville) UMC in Morristown District held a clinic on June 28. Wesley Memorial UMC in Johnson City District hosted a clinic on June 29. On June 30 and July 1, Wesley Memorial was also planning to help staff a clinic for TennCare subscribers at North Side Elementary School in Johnson City.
In addition to these churches, First Maryville UMC and several Holston individuals were responding to the TennCare resolution and to a plea for volunteers appearing in the June 22 edition of the conference's e-mail newsletter, "Holston Conference News Briefs."
Few church groups, other than Holston Conference United Methodists, have yet to step up to aid the at-risk TennCare subscribers, Hodges said.
Holstonians willing to help TennCare subscribers through the July 6 deadline should immediately call the following staff members at Legal Aid of Tennessee: Kathie Evans in Knoxville at (865) 637-0484 or Deborah Yeomans in Johnson City at (423) 928-8311, ext. 38.
In the meantime, Hodges and other Holston leaders are planning ways that the conference can help TennCare subscribers after July 6. Some information is already available on the conference web site at http://tenncarecrisis.holston.org. Additional resources will be provided there as they become available, Hodges said.
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