(NASHVILLE, TN), January 27, 2010 — State Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) announced today that he has filed legislation called the “Health Care Choice Act” in an effort to lower health insurance costs and provide more choices to Tennesseans. The legislation would allow Tennesseans to purchase health insurance plans from companies in other states with reciprocal agreements, a practice that is currently prohibited.
“Citizens want and deserve health care reform, but not the government-run health care that has been on the front burner in Washington,” said Senator Kelsey. “Tennesseans, not the federal government, should be in control of the decision regarding what health care plan best suits their needs and their pocketbooks. The legislation I am proposing dramatically expands choices for Tennessee consumers so that affordable options are available.”
Associated Press reporter Alan Fram reported on January 21, 2010 in an article entitled “Pelosi: House lacks votes to OK Senate health bill” that “In a bid for GOP support, participants suggested other elements could be added (to the federal health care bill). These included allowing insurance companies to sell policies across state lines, according to Rep. Timothy Walz, (D-Minn).” Kelsey said such a move would definitely give the proposal momentum.
The Health Care Choice Act will expand the number of health care plans available for purchase from 127 in Tennessee to potentially more than 5,000 plans nationwide. Several other states have introduced similar legislation. The bill introduced on the federal level allowing for an interstate compact to sell health insurance over state lines, however, has been put on the backburner due to the current health care overhaul measures pending in Congress.
“Expanding the availability of affordable health care plans and offering consumers more choices should be a key provision of any reform effort, at the state or federal level,” added Kelsey. “It helps to provide citizens choices instead of mandates regarding their health care insurance. With this legislation, Tennesseans will have more access to affordable health care insurance.”
“Hopefully, Congress will go back to the drawing board and include this plan at the national level. However, until then it’s time for state legislatures to weigh in on this national debate and take a stand against government-run health care. I look forward to having this discussion with my colleagues, so that we can work together to make health insurance more affordable for more Tennesseans,” he concluded.
(NASHVILLE, TN), January 27, 2010 — State Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) announced today that he has filed legislation called the “Health Care Choice Act” in an effort to lower health insurance costs and provide more choices to Tennesseans. The legislation would allow Tennesseans to purchase health insurance plans from companies in other states with reciprocal agreements, a practice that is currently prohibited.
“Citizens want and deserve health care reform, but not the government-run health care that has been on the front burner in Washington,” said Senator Kelsey. “Tennesseans, not the federal government, should be in control of the decision regarding what health care plan best suits their needs and their pocketbooks. The legislation I am proposing dramatically expands choices for Tennessee consumers so that affordable options are available.”
Associated Press reporter Alan Fram reported on January 21, 2010 in an article entitled “Pelosi: House lacks votes to OK Senate health bill” that “In a bid for GOP support, participants suggested other elements could be added (to the federal health care bill). These included allowing insurance companies to sell policies across state lines, according to Rep. Timothy Walz, (D-Minn).” Kelsey said such a move would definitely give the proposal momentum.
The Health Care Choice Act will expand the number of health care plans available for purchase from 127 in Tennessee to potentially more than 5,000 plans nationwide. Several other states have introduced similar legislation. The bill introduced on the federal level allowing for an interstate compact to sell health insurance over state lines, however, has been put on the backburner due to the current health care overhaul measures pending in Congress.
“Expanding the availability of affordable health care plans and offering consumers more choices should be a key provision of any reform effort, at the state or federal level,” added Kelsey. “It helps to provide citizens choices instead of mandates regarding their health care insurance. With this legislation, Tennesseans will have more access to affordable health care insurance.”
“Hopefully, Congress will go back to the drawing board and include this plan at the national level. However, until then it’s time for state legislatures to weigh in on this national debate and take a stand against government-run health care. I look forward to having this discussion with my colleagues, so that we can work together to make health insurance more affordable for more Tennesseans,” he concluded.
NASHVILLE — Top officials of Shelby County and the Regional Medical Center at Memphis asked Wednesday for an additional $22 million a year in state aid for The Med.
They warned state officials of harm to the entire state in the unlikely event The Med closes, including possible loss of accreditation for the University of Tennessee medical school. Students receive medical training at the county-owned hospital.
Interim County Mayor Joe Ford, County Commissioner Mike Ritz and Med CEO Claude D. Watts Jr. presented the hospital’s plight to Shelby’s legislators and top aides to Gov. Phil Bredesen, including Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz and Deputy Governor John Morgan.
Ritz said the county officials left those meetings “hopeful” but without a commitment of additional aid. “We were warned that the governor’s budget message Monday is going to be pretty stark.”
The requested state funding is on top of a $10 million hike in the county’s annual subsidy, now $37 million. A City Council committee voted down a $2 million-a-year subsidy Tuesday, but officials plan to return for another try in two weeks.
Tennessee gives The Med about $42 million in various programs like “essential-access hospitals” and graduate medical education, on top of about $60 million in TennCare payments for services to enrollees. But the $42 million is about one-third of federal aid sent to the state as a result of unpaid care at The Med.
“We’re here today (because) we need your help,” Ford said. “We have a Level One trauma center, one of the best in the nation. We have an emergency room that sees 55,000 people a year. We have the UT medical school, one of the best medical schools in the country. If The Med closes, what will happen to the UT medical school? There’s talk it would lose its accreditation.”
Ritz said he was frustrated to hear from legislative leaders that Bredesen still believes the The Med is run inefficiently. After a $10.4 million consultants’ study, the hospital adopted a long-term plan last October, has cut costs by $25 million a year and is working to slash more.
“We were told that the governor still thinks the hospital is inefficiently run, that he talks about lack of a plan and a failure to manage. That’s frustrating for me to hear. In several meetings today, (Watts) told them The Med is now run on a break-even basis and what we need the $22 million for is to better manage our cash and bills and buy new equipment,” Ritz said.
Watts said the hospital is limited in cutting costs in an aging 1.2 million-square-foot facility. It wants to replace it with a new $300 million, 400,000-square-foot structure but lacks the $20 million a year to pay for it.
Shelby lawmakers suggested options for increasing revenue, including a tax on other hospitals that would be flooded with non-paying patients if The Med were to close. They approved a motion by Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, asking the governor to explore federal matching money for the county’s $10 million hike.
Sen. Roy Herron, D-Dresden, said the hospital is important to all of West Tennessee and pledged to help solve its fiscal problems. “It really is the Regional Medical Center. It has literally saved the lives of friends of mine. If The Med dies, people in West Tennessee die,” he said.
(NASHVILLE, TN), January 25, 2010 – State Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) filed legislation today to encourage low income women who receive TennCare to receive vital prenatal care in order to address that state’s high infant mortality. The bill calls for paying pregnant enrollees $50 per office with limitations of one visit each four weeks for the first 28 weeks of pregnancy, one per two weeks until the 36th week of gestation, and then one each week until delivery.
“Memphis is the worst in the nation in infant mortality,” said Senator Kelsey. “More babies will die before their first birthday here than in many third world countries. One of the primary reasons is the lack of pre-natal care. This bill seeks to address that problem by offering monetary assistance to encourage pregnant mothers to get the care they need to deliver a healthy baby.”
Kelsey said the bill not only help babies receive a healthy start in life, but also saves money for taxpayers who will pick up the tab as each low birth weight baby costs an average of $100,000 in medical expenses. Tennessee has a higher infant mortality rate than 42 other countries around the world.
“The primary reason for this legislation is to give these babies a healthy start in life and address our appalling infant mortality rate,” added Kelsey. “However, the cost to taxpayers to treat a premature infant is tremendously expensive. If we only save one-half of one percent of all TennCare-funded births, or 200 per year, then this program will more than pay for itself.”
Commercial Appeal
Immigrants especially vulnerable to rip-off
By Daniel Connolly
State Sen. Brian Kelsey has introduced a bill in the Tennessee legislature that would impose stiff penalties for selling an “international driver’s license,” a sham document that some stores openly sell to immigrants.
“The immigrant population is a particularly vulnerable population in Shelby County because a lot of first-generation immigrants don’t speak English,” Kelsey said. “And we need to make sure that these people aren’t ripped off.”
The proposed bill would make it a Class B misdemeanor to advertise or sell international driver’s licenses. Violators could face up to six months in jail and a criminal fine up to $500.
Sellers could also face civil fines up to $3,000 per violation.
Kelsey, a Germantown Republican, says he learned about the licenses from articles in The Commercial Appeal last year.
Advertisements in Memphis-area Hispanic newspapers urge immigrants to spend as much as $100 to buy the official-looking cards and passport-like booklets at storefront operations.
The sham documents are so widespread that some businesses, from car dealerships to insurance agencies, have advertised in recent years that they accept the licenses as identification.
These documents are especially appealing to illegal immigrants who can’t legally obtain Tennessee driver’s licenses and may lack any identification.
Kelsey said consumers deserve protection whether they’re here legally or not.
“I think if people are being ripped off, they need to be protected, period,” he said. “You know, fraud is fraud.”
Kelsey said he spoke with Edgardo Solero of the Memphis Police Department before filing the bill.
Solero told The Commercial Appeal last year that about 60 percent of the Hispanic drivers he pulled over were carrying the sham licenses. “And they’re under the impression that those licenses are good,” he said. “Because that’s what they’re being led to believe.”
Solero said he confiscates the documents and charges the motorists with driving without a license if they don’t have another one.
This month, a Memphis company called El Grafico Services LLC was advertising its sales of the product in a Spanish-language newspaper it publishes.
“Everyone qualifies. We’ll take your photo here,” reads the ad promoting the “international document to drive and commercial ID.”
The owner of El Grafico, Arturo Granada, was in Mexico Friday and didn’t respond immediately to an e-mail.
In an e-mail last year, he said his company never claims that the international driving document replaces a government-issued license. Instead, he said it’s a translation that must be accompanied by a valid license from the person’s home country. He also said the practice is covered by international treaty.
The Big Chill
The political air grows frigid, and it isn’t just the weather.
by Jackson Baker
The recent extended siege of Arctic temperatures was not without its forebodings for Memphis politics. The decision by some city sanitation employees to forgo working in frigid temperatures resulted in an uncomfortable déjà vu which saw Mayor A C Wharton publicly expressing his displeasure with the recalcitrant workers and suggesting he will seek to amend the city’s contractual relationship with the union representing the sanitation employees.
The circumstance — which became public, ironically, in the week of annual commemoration of the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. — is by no means a parallel with the showdown between then Mayor Henry Loeb and sanitation employees in early 1968 that triggered a long-running strike and, ultimately, the tragic assassination of King, who had come to Memphis in solidarity with the workers. For one thing, an arbitration process now exists for the resolution of differences.
But no one doubts that the forthcoming budget crunch is going to present some hard decisions. City councilman Jim Strickland discovered as much quite concretely when, as an attendee at last weekend’s opening of the new downtown University of Memphis law school, he was greeted by a well-wisher, Chip Sneed, at the reception for the event.
Sneed, a firefighter in his last year of duty before retirement, pointed out during the conversation that the amount of his pension would be dependent on his final pay status, which at this point is affected by a citywide employee raise that Strickland and others on the council have proposed rescinding as one means of balancing the budget.
Strickland was plainly moved by the exchange but noted that an already unstable budget situation has been exacerbated by a state appeals court’s mandate restoring cuts in the city’s contribution to Memphis City Schools.
Something — or somebody — has to give, either taxpayers or city employees or both, and it’s not exactly a win-win situation.
• One of the supporters of Governor Phil Bredesen’s comprehensive educational program, which seeks $485 million in stimulus funds from the Obama administration, was newly elected state senator Brian Kelsey, a Germantown Republican who as a member of the state House was a determined foe of all forms of “pork,” state or federal.
Kelsey, who is not averse to theatrical tactics, once made a show of putting slabs of bacon in an envelope, which he offered to “return” to then House speaker Jimmy Naifeh as his way of rejecting surplus funds that were being meted out to each legislative district.
In announcing his decision to vote for Tennessee’s pursuit of “Race to the Top” educational funding, Kelsey opined that the money would be helpful to schools in his district and said, “For the first time in my career, I like the strings attached to these Obama stimulus dollars.”
Kelsey’s statement and vote may be the first confirmation of a prophecy made last week by a fellow arch-conservative, state representative Frank Nicely (R-Knoxville).
“He’ll be different in the Senate,” Nicely said about Kelsey. “I’ve seen it happen over and over, when people move over. It calms them down. He’ll be in the majority over there. When you’re in the minority, you have to act up to get attention.”
Indeed, Kelsey was in the minority for most of his time in the House, but these days the House, too, has a Republican majority. The newest member of it is Mark White, who was easily elected last week over Democrat Guthrie Castle and independent John Andreuccetti to succeed Kelsey in House District 83.
White, who claimed 68 percent of the vote in the special election, made the tongue-in-cheek statement that his only regret was that he hadn’t “beat Brian Kelsey,” who had polled 75 percent in his own recent victory in the special election for Senate District 31.
• Ford for Dummies (continued): Back in 2000, as so many chroniclers have noted, Harold Ford Jr., then a second-term congressman from Memphis’ 9th District, was asked by Al Gore (a political “Jr.” himself and a fellow graduate of Washington’s exclusive St. Albans school) to deliver the keynote address at that year’s Democratic convention, the one that nominated Gore for president, and at which Gore delivered a populist-to-beat-the-band acceptance address. Ford, in his remarks, chose not to sound populist at all:
”I recognize that I stand here tonight because of the brave men and women, many no older than I am today, who fought and stood and oftentimes sat down to create that perfect union,” he said at the beginning of his 13-minute address. And that was how the Gore people had wanted him to sound — like the latest, newest, shiniest, gratefullest incarnation of the African-American voting bloc.
That was followed, however, by a quick segue out: “But I also stand here representing a new generation … .” Thence came some nice business about education and the need for more schools. And a good deal of generalized uplift. It was stirring enough. But much of what Ford said would have gone by the name of “yuppie” a few years earlier — a kinder, gentler version of Newt Gingrich’s “Opportunity Society,” if you will. And, noticeably, Ford eschewed direct criticism of the GOP Bush-Cheney ticket.
A few journalists wondered afterward why it was arranged for the keynote address to come after the major networks were all done with their coverage for the night. (Earlier, in prime TV time, there had been Jesse Jackson, Caroline Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, and Bill Bradley.)
It developed later on that there had been a tussle between Ford and the Gore campaign over the substance of his remarks. When I asked Ford about it three years later, in a Q&A I did with him for Memphis magazine, he said this: “That team of people had put together some remarks for me that I didn’t agree with. It was the kind of predictable stale approach that most of America gets turned off by, and, frankly, I didn’t believe in it.
“The vice president asked me to give a speech, and I imagine that if he just wanted somebody to read some remarks, he’d have shared that with me at the outset or picked somebody else. But my politics was not that [pause] old-line predictable approach to politics. That’s not me, and the speech I wanted to give was forward-looking and one that would invite a new generation of voters to vote for Al Gore and join my party. So there was a difference about what should be said.”
And that “difference” may well have been what kept Ford out of prime time.
In that same 2003 Q&A (not so coyly entitled “Does Harold Ford Jr. Want to Be President?”), Ford dilated further on his sense of what “forward-looking” meant: “For me to do well politically and for Democrats to do well politically we have to attract Republicans. … There’s a generational thing. I grew up attending school with a lot of guys who identify more as Republicans than as Democrats. I know how they think, because a lot of times I think the same way.”
There you have it: The seeds of a political conservatism that was more than evident in 2006, when Ford ran for the U.S. Senate. Now that he’s a candidate for the U.S. Senate again, this time from New York, pundits up thataway, and even some down here, are referring to all that as opportunism — born of a need to pander to red-state Tennessee. Salon writer Glenn Greenwald, in doing a depth chart on Ford’s frequent former turns to the right, calls the candidate “the incomparably horrific Harold Ford.”
Horrific or not, there’s a consistency to what Ford has said — and continues to say — the apparent flip-flops on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage notwithstanding. It cannot have gone unnoticed in liberal, socially conscious New York that Ford has now pronounced himself dead set against President Obama’s showpiece legislation on health care.
(NASHVILLE, TN), January 20, 2010 – State Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) won approval in the Senate Education Committee today to create a pilot program in one persistently under-performing Memphis city high school to provide “Parental Choice Scholarships” for low income students who are eligible for free and reduced lunch. Kelsey said that the pilot project is a first step towards allowing students zoned to failing schools to have a choice of where their children go to school.
“These scholarships would allow low-income parents the chance for their children to receive the quality education they deserve,” said Senator Kelsey. “Similar programs in other states have been successful, and I think it’s time that Tennessee looked at this viable alternative.”
The “parental choice scholarships” will be equal to the amount that state and local school systems would have spent on each child. They can be used in the school of their choice, including charter schools, private schools, or other public schools if space is available. The scholarship amount gradually decreases to 25% of the full amount as incomes rise up to two and a half times the eligible income for receiving free and reduced lunch. Kelsey said the legislation could provide as much as five additional points as Tennessee competes for up to $485 million in federal funds in the “Race to the Top” competition.
“This bill provides poor kids with hope and real choices in what school they want to attend,” added Senator Kelsey. “Children from wealthier families are more empowered to move to another school district or to afford a private school. However, many local students from low income families and who are zoned to a persistently failing school do not have another recourse. Kids shouldn’t be victims of their own geography.”
The legislation is built on data collected from several similar successful models, including two notable programs in the District of Columbia and Milwakee, Wisconsin. Those receiving scholarships in Milwakee graduated 10 to 25 percent more students than their peers in traditional school programs. Kelsey said most parents participating in the District of Columbia scholarship program who at the beginning cited safety as the key reason for moving their students, later said the quality of curriculum was the key factor in their decision to take advantage of the scholarship for their children.
“The vast majority of parents want a quality education for their children, regardless of their personal finances or situation,” added Senator Kelsey. “This legislation engages these parents to have a major role in their child’s education by giving them a choice about what school they will attend.”
Commercial Appeal
Legislative tour planned for The Med
Education also focus of Shelby delegation
By Richard Locker
NASHVILLE — The financially beleaguered Regional Medical Center at Memphis will get a checkup next week from some top state officials.
House Speaker Kent Williams of Elizabethton, House Health & Human Resources Committee chairman Joe Armstrong of Knoxville and Deputy to the Governor John Morgan of Nashville plan to tour The Med and meet with its administrators Friday to explore the public hospital’s fiscal and other issues.
State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, announced the state officials’ visit just after he was elected chairman of the Shelby County Legislative Delegation Friday by his legislative colleagues. Hardaway helped arranged the visit, according to Williams’ office.
“The two big things for us right now are the University of Memphis and The Med,” Hardaway told the delegation in a Nashville meeting. “We’re going to try to get something that’s sustainable for The Med.”
The delegation is also working with U of M President Shirley Raines in amending a higher education restructuring bill to take note of a new collaborative research effort among the university, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and other Memphis institutions.
The higher education bill under consideration in a special legislative session may be postponed to the regular session, likely to convene next week.
Hardaway replaces state Sen. Jim Kyle, D-Memphis, as chairman of the Shelby delegation in the legislature — six senators and 16 representatives. The delegation will meet Wednesdays at noon in the Legislative Library of the State Capitol while the 2010 legislative session is underway.
Hardaway, 55, is in his fourth year in the House and ran without opposition for the one-year gig as chairman.
The delegation re-elected Rep. Curry Todd, R-Collierville, as vice chairman and elected Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, as secretary.
The Med is facing a $32 million shortfall in its budget this year.
The hospital has been working for years to win a commitment for ongoing funding from Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas.
Senator-elect Kelsey Assigned to Judiciary, Government Op Committees
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey said today he has assigned Senator-elect Brian Kelsey to serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Government Operations Committee.
He also issed a brief statement congratulating Kelsey on his election. Here it is:
Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville) today congratulated Sen. Brian Kelsey on his huge victory in last night’s election for the Senate District 31 seat. Sen. Kelsey received 75% of the vote in the district which includes most of Germantown and parts of Bartlett, Cordova, East Memphis and Hickory Hill.
“Senator Kelsey will be an excellent addition to the state Senate,” said Lt. Governor Ramsey. “Brian is a true conservative who is focused on job creation for the people of Shelby County. His overwhelming victory is a testament to how people in the district feel about Brian Kelsey.”
Lt. Governor Ramsey also announced that Sen. Kelsey will serve on the Senate Judiciary and Senate Government Operations committees
Newest Senator to be sworn in Dec. 11 in Shelby County, will serve on Judiciary, Government Operations
(Nashville) – Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville) today congratulated Sen. Brian Kelsey on his huge victory in last night’s election for the Senate District 31 seat. Sen. Kelsey received 75% of the vote in the district which includes most of Germantown and parts of Bartlett, Cordova, East Memphis and Hickory Hill.
“Senator Kelsey will be an excellent addition to the state Senate,” said Lt. Governor Ramsey. “Brian is a true conservative who is focused on job creation for the people of Shelby County. His overwhelming victory is a testament to how people in the district feel about Brian Kelsey.”
Lt. Governor Ramsey also announced that Sen. Kelsey will serve on the Senate Judiciary and Senate Government Operations committees.
