{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://cohen.house.gov/helping-memphis-get-covered", "Helping Memphis Get Covered", "2013-11-01", "2013", "2013-11", "Democrat", "House", "TN", "Steve Cohen", "C001068", "cohen.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Dear Friend,\u00a0\nThis afternoon, I joined Mayor A C Wharton in welcoming U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to Memphis. While she was here, we met with local partners, like Seedco Mid-South, who are helping enroll uninsured Memphians in high-quality, affordable coverage and participated in an Affordable Care Act outreach and education session at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library with area residents who are interested in enrolling in the Tennessee Marketplace.\u00a0\nHelping Memphis Get Covered  Protecting Consumers from Unreasonable Harassment  Working to Prevent Hunger and Poverty  Ending the School-to-Prison Pipeline  Improving Downtown Memphis  Grants to Memphis  Medicare Open Enrollment  Grant Announcements\nThe fight to reform our nation's health care system is in many ways similar to\u00a0my 18 year struggle to\u00a0create the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship program.\u00a0Many of the people who fought most vehemently against me\u00a0then are now some of the first in line\u00a0for the\u00a0benefits the program provides their children. At the time\u00a0when the lottery launched, there were even some computer\u00a0issues that caused problems. But today, there aren't many left who would say the lottery is anything but a success. Just as the opponents of the lottery were wrong during the long fight to help improve our education system, the opponents trying to delay and prevent improvements to our health care system today are wrong. And just as the lottery's opponents failed, the opponents of health care reform will fail\u00a0as well. Keep reading to learn what else happened this week.\nHelping Memphis Get Covered\nI\u2019m glad that Secretary Sebelius was able to visit our city today and help Memphians get covered.\u00a0Whether or not you were able to make it to the library today, I think we can all agree that everyone should have quality health coverage. Luckily, many who\u00a0have been unable to afford quality coverage in the past are now eligible to enroll in\u00a0Tennessee\u2019s Health Insurance Marketplace\u00a0thanks to the President\u2019s landmark Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. If you do not have health insurance coverage, you\u00a0may be eligible to save money on your health care premiums\u00a0in the Marketplace.\nIf you are on Medicare or your employer is going to offer qualified health insurance next year that you will enroll in, you won\u2019t need to enter the\u00a0Marketplace for your health coverage. If you aren\u2019t sure whether or not you will need to use the Marketplace to get insurance, call the Marketplace Hotline at\u00a01-800-318-2596\u00a0or visit\u00a0www.HealthCare.gov. You can also call my office or the Marketplace Hotline to find out if TennCare (Tennessee\u2019s Medicaid program) is a coverage option for you. If you are one of the millions of Americans who need health insurance, you can\u00a0sign up\u00a0for coverage today that will take effect January 1, 2014. Enrollment in the marketplace will remain open for six months, but you can go online to\u00a0www.healthcare.gov\u00a0 today to check out your options.\nThe Affordable Care Act is already working for families across the Ninth District and the government shutdown didn\u2019t change that. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 147,000 individuals in the district now have health insurance that covers preventive services without co-pays, $3.1 million in insurance premiums have been returned to consumers, and more than 5,000 seniors on Medicare paid a total of $5.9 million less for their prescription medications as we continue to close the \u2018donut hole.\u2019 Health insurance companies can no longer discriminate against patients with pre-existing conditions and young adults up to age 26 can now stay on their parents\u2019 insurance plan.\nIn recent weeks, there have been reports of citizens having difficulty successfully using the Marketplace website. Many of these reported problems have already been resolved and there are people working around the clock to fix the problems that remain on the website. But the Marketplace website is only one tool that you can use to sign up for coverage. If you are having trouble accessing the website, please do not hesitate to call the Marketplace Hotline at 1-800-318-2596 or visit Seedco Mid-South for in-person help. Seedco is located at 22 North Front Street (Suite 900), and they can be reached by phone at 901-528-8341. You should also feel free to call my office at 901-544-4131 if you have any additional questions.\nProtecting Consumers from Unreasonable Harassment\nJust like the United States government, consumers should pay the debts they owe, but they still deserve protection from harassment and the abusive and predatory tactics used by some debt collectors. On Wednesday, I introduced the\u00a0Fair Debt Collection Improvement Act to ensure that some of the worst tactics of debt collectors are no longer used.\nMy legislation would explicitly bar debt collectors from bringing legal action against consumers on a debt for which the statute of limitations has expired. While this predatory practice is not currently illegal, most courts hold that creditors may not sue to collect such debts. And because many creditors sell time-barred debts to secondary debt collection agencies with unsavory collection practices, my bill would also prevent those agencies from hiding or obscuring the legal rights of consumers when seeking to collect the debt.\nThe\u00a0Fair Debt Collection Improvement Act would require collectors who have purchased time-barred debt on the secondary market to inform consumers that: the debt collector (not the original creditor) now holds the debt, the debt collector cannot sue for the debt, and that\u2014if applicable under state law\u2014any payment made towards the debt by the consumer could restart the statute of limitations on the entire debt. I believe that people should pay the debts that they owe, but debt collectors shouldn\u2019t be able to bully and harass consumers.\nWorking to Prevent Hunger and Poverty\nThis morning, millions of Americans woke up to some tough news: the SNAP benefits they rely on the keep food on their tables are going to be smaller from now on. And House Republicans recently passed legislation that would cut even more from this critical part of our social safety net. Last night,\u00a0I went on Al Jazeera\u2019s\u00a0Consider This TV show\u00a0\u00a0to discuss the cuts and what they mean for children, families, and seniors in Memphis.\nInstead of cutting benefits to families and taking food out of the mouths of hungry children, I believe we should work to keep Americans out of poverty. That is why I have co-sponsored Rep. John Conyers\u2019\u00a0Extend Not Cut SNAP Benefits Act, to prevent even more citizens from going hungry.\nEnding the School-to-Prison Pipeline\nUnless dealt with early and effectively, young perpetrators of minor, non-violent offenses can unnecessarily fall into a pattern of violent conduct later in life. But instead of focusing on conflict resolution methods that could cut short this cycle, schools in Memphis and across the country often involve the police in non-violent incidents on school property, which helps feed the \u201cschool-to-prison\u201d pipeline that is both expensive and harmful to our community\u2019s youth.\nThis week, I introduced the Restorative Justice in Schools Act, which would help reduce youth incarceration by helping to provide educators valuable training in innovative \u201crestorative justice\u201d methods. Restorative justice can serve as a\u00a0cost-effective and useful alternative to the more punitive conflict resolution methods used by many schools to resolve minor student conflicts. These victim-centered methods hold offenders accountable to their victims and their communities, help offenders understand the impact of their actions, and give the wronged party an opportunity to have a voice in resolving the conflict\u2014which can assist in the healing process and prevent victims from becoming aggressors.\nBy training educators in alternative conflict resolution methods that yield better results for everyone, we can keep our young people out of jail, provide better outcomes and improved healing for victims, and save the country money.\nImproving Downtown Memphis\nThe Commercial Appeal\u00a0reported today\u00a0that work to make Downtown Memphis more walkable will soon begin as the first part of the Main Street to Main Street\u00a0project, a project which I helped secure a $15 million\u00a0federal TIGER grant for last year. While the TIGER grant includes the bicycle path over the Harahan Bridge, at least half of the funding will go to long-needed but little-noted improvements to local infrastructure.\u00a0\nIn addition to other improvements, the City will be putting people to work repairing and improving Downtown sidewalks and the Main Street Mall. Once these streets and sidewalks are improved, more people will come Downtown\u2014as will more jobs.\u00a0I\u2019m glad that this program is getting off the ground and bringing jobs to our city, and I look forward to the new upgrades to Downtown Memphis.\nGrants to Memphis  \n\tOn Tuesday, I announced that the Department of Health and Human Services awarded nearly $100,000 to the Shelby Country Health Care Corporation. The funds will be used by The MED to help keep Memphis healthy.\nMedicare Open Enrollment\nMedicare Part D enrollment for 2014 is now open and will run until December 7th. The Aging Commission of the Mid-South will be sponsoring several enrollment workshops in the 9th District to assist seniors in enrolling in next year\u2019s plans. All that you have to bring is your Medicare card and prescriptions. Be sure not to miss out on this great opportunity to lower your monthly pharmacy costs. For dates, times, and locations of the workshops\u00a0please click here.\nGrant Announcements\nI regularly release a list of grant announcements from federal agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Transportation, and others. These federal funding opportunities are available to faith-based and neighborhood associations, nonprofits and other community organizations in the 9th district. The announcements are\u00a0updated regularly on my website.\nAs always, I remain.  \n\tMost sincerely,    \n\tSteve Cohen  \n\tMember of Congress", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://cohen.house.gov/helping-memphis-get-covered"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4078589156270027, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}