NASHVILLE, Tenn. — State Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville issued the following statement in response to Governor Bill Haslam’s rejection of federal funding to expand Medicaid coverage to as many as 300,000 working families in Tennessee:
“A great opportunity to expand essential health coverage to 300,000 low-wage earners — servers, store clerks, farm hands — has been squandered because of extreme politics and a failure of leadership.
“Every Tennessean who works for a living deserves the dignity and security of being able to go the doctor when they get sick or hurt.
“The truest measure of a state is how we treat our most vulnerable citizens, and sadly, this is one more irresponsible decision in a line of many that punishes working and middle class families.”
