323,000

That's the number of people in the state of Tennessee who are, at this very minute, in danger of dying or of becoming seriously disabled because of cuts in Medicaid. The letters disenrolling them went out on June 5, 2005, and it's already destroying some of the sickest, poorest, and most vulnerable people in that state.

My friend, Nick Dupree, has been a Medicaid advocate for several years, and he alerted me to what's going on with this email:

http://www.tenncare.org/323000.wmv

This chilling 29 minute documentary, "323,000," is about the 323,000 who are now losing their health care under TennCare, Tennessee's Medicaid program. It is the culmination of a 6 month investigation into the largest health care cuts in the history of America. In the course of the investigation and filming, documents were discovered that prove that the drastic nature of the cuts now are part of a bigger political strategy.

To understand the REAL issues with TennCare, the motives behind the cuts, the advocacy happening now, the people who will die from losing heart, anti-transplant rejection and other medications and those on respirators losing all their in-home care that keeps them alive, you MUST watch "323,000."Click to watch

http://www.tenncare.org/323000.wmv

Nick

This is a social justice issue of the first magnitude. Later today I'm going to attend my first meeting as a board member for our local Council on Aging, and I hope we get information about what's going on in Florida. I know that Medicaid was "reorganized" in Florida during the last session of the Legislature, and, given the Republican majority in the Legislature and the State House, I wonder if Florida isn't headed in this direction.

Watching the documentary made me cry. What they're doing is so wrong that words fail me.