Newspaper story about Tennessee couple stirs up social media sensation

Thom Throp is a Kingsport insurance agent who's sold over sixty Affordable Care Act plans.

Like thousands of others, he logged on with great interest to read a story from The Tennessean newspaper about a Maryville couple forced to separate after 33 years of marriage so the wife could keep health insurance.

"We are in a situation in trying to get as many people covered as possible. People are falling in the proverbial crack," Throp said.

So if expanding Medicaid isn't the answer, then what is? Throp tells us, even in a tight economy, that couples like the Drains may just have to find more income. "This is going to sound somewhat crass but, short-term, they're going to have to make more money," Throp said.

"We all want to make sure people have proper healthcare and this isn't a healthcare problem," Ramsey said. "Everybody gets healthcare. It's just a matter of who pays for it."

"It's awful in that trying to make healthcare, health insurance more accessible to people, it's causing them to break up 33-year-old marriages," Throp said. "It's awful."

Lamar and Corker are the worse in the state except for a family in the Memphis area at the state level. Tennessee's congressional Reps are largely conservative and I think this couple live in John J Duncan's District who is one of the most conservative congressmen in the nation.

On a state government level as of a few years ago it is a two house GOP majority but a GOP moderate friend of Corker & Alexander as governor.

Outside of Tennessee few persons know the history of what at one time was our Medicaid program which if the original program had remained intact this couple would be covered.

It was a DEM governor {Ned Ray McWherter}, Al Gore, the then state speaker of the house James {Boss Hogg} Naifeh and LT Gov John Wilder along with the advice of the Hildabeast pushed through in a Dem controlled General Assembly TENNCARE which took the place of Medicaid and became by default an early version of Hillary Care. Tennessee was to be the first Hillarycare state.

Worse was the next governor was a Liberal RINO Don Sundquist who was backed by the likes of Alexander and others. He darn near bankrupted the state. THis in turn began the Tennessee Income Tax Revolt. The state capitol literally got shut down by angry horn honking taxpayers circling the capitol building and street protesters.

Tenncare fraud especially within the HMO's was rampant. Kids were almost automatically enrolled while at the same time several unsuccessful attempts were made to disenroll the elderly poor and disabled from Tenncare which Medicaid was the program funding used to form Tenncare was meant for.

The state lawmakers wisely choose not to expand the system into Obamacare. Ironically Tenncare at one point was nearly shut down and original Medicaid program reopened. That threat was made by the previous governor who believe it or not was a DEM.

I'd be careful about this story for several reasons. Some of the papers pushing it are pro-Obamacare media. They are Liberal papers looking in Conservative districts for propaganda to use for the cause so to speak. I know of no one in this area {I live in East Tennessee} divorcing to get healthcare coverage. You can get Medicare and Medicare supplemental PLUS in their hood several reduced based on ability to pay clinics do exist.

I went through the 1982 East Tennessee recession which hit here harder than about anywhere in the southeast. Mickey D had Not Hiring instead of the special of the day on their road signs. I went to an area VOC/Tech on my GI Bill, I mowed grass and dug graves with pick and shovel at Knoxville National Cemetery for minimum wage, I joined the Army NG for a year. Enough income to get by.

A few years later my situation had completely changed. I was caring for a disabled wife, for that first year unable to work until I had trained family to help me do the care so I could go back to work.

I then worked a full time job often working 50+ hour weeks and coming home to my wife. My income wasn't top pay. I made $6.50 HR when I had to retire in 1994 for medical reasons. I was doing skilled trades BTW. I was declared disabled by my doctors and the SS disability examiners. But due to the changes the Democrats had made in the Tennessee Medicaid program as explained in post 5 & 6 I was inelligable for any health care. No one would touch me and Medicaid was gone.

I was not eligible for the new Tenncare system because it was old Medicaid money that was set up for welfare Moms and her kids. The disabled had had to fight to keep coverage they had when the change came. I got on Tenncare finally due to hypertension which had nothing whatsoever to do with my disability.

The article is a political propaganda piece to push our state lawmakers into expanding the Medicaid system into being a part of Obamacare and basically surrendering any state say in the matter. Someone is blowing smoke to make this a poster case for Medicaid expansion. Several things can be done. One is Medical bills are deductible when it comes to applying for state assistance. IOW it lowers your income dollar for dollar. If she is on Medicare she would likely also qualify to have her portion of the Medicare premium and likely co-payments paid for by the state even if they did not qualify for any other aid like SSI or food stamps. I know what I'm saying on that matter. Her medical needs would qualify her in Medicare as SNP Special Needs Patient.

It takes some doing & stubbornness but if I were the husband I'd be on the phone to Nashville. I would document all health issues, non covered expenses, file all appeals I could, and send them signed receipt as well as fax. I would write the Tenncare Commissioner and other offices I would contact state lawmakers as they can get responses out of state offices. I've locked horns more times than I can count and I've won each time.

The DEM supporting media in the state wants the state lawmakers to sign onto Obamacare. That is what it is all about. If the couples circumstance could not be used by the press as a see here this is why we need Obamacare story the media would not have any interest whatsoever in publishing it or their plight.

I'm an early whisle blower of abuses in the old Tennessee Medicaid system. I went to the press back in about 1992 about some vendors trying to bill Medicaid patients up front. The story got twisted by a local paper into a Pro-Tenncare story. The vendors were wanting money up front because the state in order to make Medicaid fail was not paying them. That was what I was trying to get out to the public. It was over parts my wifes wheelchair needed and a dealer demanding money up front because the state was stiffing them to make Medicaid fail and put Hillaycare in place.

That said where the couple lives? The husband if able to work could have a job within two days easy. It may not pay $15 an hour but we do have jobs here.

Avoid the mid size and larger cities. Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Oak Ridge, Morristown, and likely the Tri-Cities {Kingsport, Johnson City, Bristol} will have illegals. But you can go say 20 miles out of town and be left alone :>}

The further east you go generally the more conservative. If you're looking for a rural county I would go with Union or eastern Anderson county. Six large lakes are within an hours drive or less in most places in counties surrounding Knox County. Union Co. has lower property taxes though and a more conservative population overall. Ask locals what areas to avoid within a county. In Union I would shy away from Lutrell LOL. It can get kinda rowdy and the local LEO and paramedics nicknamed it Dodge City..

We do not have a state income tax and intend to stay that way. You kind of have to look and see if the county has a wheel tax as well. A few do as high as almost $100 a year. The state wheel tax which most county clerks collect for the state is usually $24 total a year per vehicle. It is a right to work state meaning Unions don't rule. Our hospitals are good and more remote rural counties are accessible by air medevac if emergency makes getting there fast necessary. Get at least 5 miles away from the interstates and the illegals should not be an issue.

Warning. Metro Nashville. It is a consolidated group of counties {five I think} and would have you paying city taxes. I would avoid it.

Union County would be Maynardville. Look for TN-33 on a road map. It is north east of Knoxville. Union borders Knox, Anderson, Grainger, Campbell, and Claiborne counties. The county is split by Norris lake BTW. There is a small section of Union County on the Claiborne County side of the lake.

Sneedville would probably be an hours drive. It's in Hancock County a bit eastward and south of the Virginia state line. Generally in East Tennessee one county away from the main city like Knoxville Chattanooga or Tri Cities puts you into more rural areas. Two counties away even more so but be prepared to drive about 45 minutes to get to the shopping areas etc.

The further away from the larger towns the cheaper the land the less the population. Persons who generally choose to live in these area do so to escape woes of the more populated areas. You may see the occasional beer guzzling drunk living in a run down shack but in general they don't do harm.

What I like is I can walk out the door in hunting season and there's the food. I have to watch out for deer just going down my driveway. I can target practice and no one cares. The gun range I shoot at is my property LOL.

I'm not too worried about illegals here. They want subsidized housing or to be near places where they can work under the table etc. The nearest Walmart, Lowes, or Home Depot is a 20 minute drive. Too in the county outside the city you are in sheriffs office jurisdiction and they are not sympathetic toward them. The cites are where the illegals are generally found. They can blend in with other illegals. Out in the rural area they can't. There's no work without driving about 15 miles or more and no support system such as Section 8 housing. They usually rent apartments and that also usually means city living. Most persons in my area have lived here for several generations. You can rent a house but the landlords are picky. Most persons renting houses do background checks and will likely meet with a potential renter a few times first if they suspect anything wrong.

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