{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://cohen.house.gov/remember-get-covered-december-23rd", "Remember to Get Covered by December 23rd", "2013-12-19", "2013", "2013-12", "Democrat", "House", "TN", "Steve Cohen", "C001068", "cohen.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Dear Friend,\nI\u2019m glad to be home in Memphis for the holidays after a long and frustrating year in Congress. I hope that you and your loved ones have a wonderful holiday season. Keep reading to learn what else happened this week.\nHonoring the Late Nelson Mandela  Helping Memphians Get Covered by December 23rd  Extending Coverage to Those Most\u00a0in Need  Opposing Telephone Calls on Airplanes  Senator Elizabeth Warren Joins My Effort to Ensure All Job Seekers Are Treated Fairly  Reining In the FISA Court and NSA Surveillance  2014 U.S. Capitol Historical Society Calendars Are Available  White House Internships  Grant Announcements\nHonoring the Late Nelson Mandela\nIn the last week, I attended a memorial service for the late Nelson Mandela at the R.S. Lewis and Sons Funeral Home\u2014the same funeral home where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s body was taken for public viewing in April of 1968. At the memorial service this week, I signed the guest book and reflected on his great spirit and accomplishments. I will make sure that the guest book gets to the Mandela family in South Africa.\nHelping Memphians Get Covered by December 23rd\nAll Memphians should have quality health coverage and the President\u2019s landmark Affordable Care Act\u2014also known as Obamacare\u2014is making affordable, higher-quality coverage available to people who have not had access to it in the past. Luckily, many who have been unable to afford quality coverage in the past are now eligible to enroll in Tennessee\u2019s Health Insurance Marketplace, though\u00a0the deadline to enroll for coverage that starts on January 1st is just 4 days away. If you do not have health insurance coverage, you may also 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\u2019re already covered and won\u2019t need to enter the Marketplace 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 1-800-318-2596 or visit www.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 sign up\u00a0for coverage that will take effect January 1, 2014 until December 23, 2013. Enrollment in the marketplace will remain open until March 31, 2014 if you miss the deadline for coverage starting in January. Visit www.healthcare.gov\u00a0 today to look at your options.\nThe Affordable Care Act is already working for families across the Ninth District and the recent 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 Also, 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.\nMany of the Marketplace website issues that have been in the news recently have been resolved.\u00a0However, 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 attend one of Seedco Mid-South\u2019s enrollment events for in-person help. Seedco\u2019s Navigators will be at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library today and tomorrow to help provide information and assist with in-person enrollment in Marketplace health insurance options. They will be in the library\u2019s Meeting Room B from 4:00 \u2013 6:30 PM tonight (Thursday), in Meeting Room A from 10:00 AM\u00a0\u2013 1:00 PM tomorrow (Friday), and Room L-56 from 2:00 \u2013 4:00 PM tomorrow (Friday). You do not need to preregister to attend any of these sessions. If you cannot make any of these sessions, you can also visit the Seedco Mid-South office at 22 North Front Street (Suite 900), and they can be reached by phone at 901-528-8341. If you have any other questions, you should also feel free to call my office at 901-544-4131.\nExtending Coverage to Those Most in Need\nWhile the technical problems with the health insurance Marketplace\u2019s website are largely resolved, a political problem with another important tool to help people access health care remains: TennCare has not been expanded to include everyone that the Affordable Care Act allows it to include. And sadly, our governor has failed to expand it\u2014making health insurance completely unattainable for some of the most vulnerable Tennesseans. This week, I wrote a column in the Commercial Appeal about why we must expand TennCare. You can read it here.\nOpposing Telephone Calls on Airplanes\nYesterday, I led a bipartisan group of 15 Members of Congress in urging the FAA to keep the ban on in-flight calls in place. I, along with my Congressional colleagues, share the concerns of the flying public and the many professionals in the aviation industry that such a change to the current rules disallowing the use of cell phone voice networks could result in not only a markedly less pleasant flying experience, but a less safe one as well.\nAllowing passengers to make phone calls while in flight would disrupt the right of consumers to enjoy the quiet comfort of their flight. Simply put, the flying experience in the United States would be forever changed for the worse if voice calls are allowed on flights. I hope that the FAA considers our concerns and makes the right decision.\nSenator Elizabeth Warren Joins My Effort to Ensure All Job Seekers Are Treated Fairly\nUsing a job applicant\u2019s credit history to deny employment is not fair because personal credit history is not an accurate predictor of job performance. And worse still, without a job the chances of improving one\u2019s credit rating can be significantly diminished, meaning that using credit ratings to deny employment only perpetuates these cyclical problems. According to TransUnion, Greater Memphis residents have among the lowest average credit ratings in America.\nMy Equal Employment for All Act would help those with less-than-stellar credit reports by prohibiting employers from using consumer credit checks and bankruptcy filings in the hiring or firing processes. This week, my bill got a big boost when U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren introduced it in the Senate.\u00a0Having Senator Warren and other consumer champions like her on our side is great news. I look forward to working with her in the coming session of Congress to pass this important bill that will help Americans who are looking for work.\nReining In the FISA Court and NSA Surveillance\nThis week, a federal judge originally appointed by President George W. Bush ruled that some of the methods used by the National Security Agency (NSA) to spy on American citizens were likely unconstitutional. On Monday night, I spoke with Chris Hayes on MSNBC about some of the ways we can help protect our rights\u2014including my bill to change how members of the FISA court, which oversees the NSA, are appointed. You can watch my interview with Chris here.\n2014 U.S. Capitol Historical Society Calendars Are Available\nMy office currently has a limited number of 2014 U.S. Capitol Historical Society calendars available. If you would like to receive next year\u2019s calendar, please complete this short form on my website \u00a0Due\u00a0to the rules of the House, I am only able to mail calendars to residents of Tennessee\u2019s Ninth District. Please feel free to share this email with other citizens of the Ninth District who may be interested in receiving one but who do not receive my eNewsletter.\nWhite House Internships\nThe White House Internship Program is currently accepting applications from young people who are interested in government and devoted to public service. If you\u2014or anyone you know\u2014 would like to spend some time working at the White House, gaining valuable professional experience and building leadership skills, I would like to take this opportunity to urge you to apply. The application deadline is January 5th, 2014. Click here\u00a0for more information.\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.\nMerry Christmas and Happy New Year,\n  \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/remember-get-covered-december-23rd"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5278849750757217, "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"}