MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — The state Legislature goes into special session Monday to take Gov. Bill Haslam’s Medicaid expansion proposal.
The governor was here in Murfreesboro yesterday afternoon wrapping up a statewide tour promoting the special deal he worked out with the Obama Administration. Haslam has acknowledged that getting fellow Republicans to approve any deal connected to the president’s signature Affordable Health Care Act will be an uphill battle.
“I think everybody understand that healthcare is a difficult issue and that it’s complex, number one, and number two the folks who say, ‘This is just Obamacare, it’s Obamacare, that’s an easy message to pass on. That’s why we’re doing this tour around the state saying here’s what’s different about this plan.”
Gov. Bill Haslam has finally found a Senate sponsor for his Medicare expansion proposal just days before the start of a special legislative session. Haslam says that Republican Sen. Doug Overbey of Maryville agreed to carry the measure after Senate Republican leader Mark Norris of Collierville declined his usual role of handling the governor's legislation.