As many as 68,000 Tennesseans would be affected by a proposal to require parents who now receive Medicaid to demonstrate that they’re working at least 20 hours a week, according to a new report.
The report from the Tennessee Justice Center and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families is based on research on a similar policy in Arkansas, which led to more than 18,000 adults losing their Medicaid coverage in the first few months.
Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown Center for Children, says the proposal is unlikely to promote more work, and most likely to affect women.
“We know this from research on other programs that have implemented work requirements and the experience of Tennessee’s neighbor Arkansas,” she states. “The practical effects of Tennessee’s proposal will be to take away Medicaid coverage from very poor parents, again, mostly mothers.”
Tennessee’s proposal has been submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for review. The public comment period ends Feb. 7.
The state ranks top in hospital closures and has seen a loss of 12 hospitals in the poorest communities without Medicaid expansion.
Mary Graham, president of United Ways of Tennessee, maintains the waiver being requested by the state will create an even bigger health care crisis.
“You know, United Ways of Tennessee, we support work as a core value, but taking away people’s health care coverage?” she questions. “That’s not a way to get more people working.
“This is going to be devastating to communities across Tennessee, and this waiver is going to make it even harder for rural hospitals to keep their doors open.”
Graham says those with medical and other needs are likely to seek assistance at hospitals in the poorest communities and help from charitable organizations.

If you have someone in the NHC Healthcare in McMinnville that you would like to visit, you’ll have to wait until next week.
Due to the influenza virus, NHC Healthcare at 928 Old Smithville Rd. in McMinnville is asking that the community refrain from visiting until next Monday, Feb. 11th. This is for the safety of the patients as well as the partners, volunteers and family members.
If you need an update on a patient, you may call the center at 931-473-8431.

We have an update on a story we brought you last week. The Tennessee Highway Patrol has identified the driver they say was involved in a deadly hit and run near the Moore County-Lincoln County line.
Early Tuesday morning (Jan. 29, 2019), the THP says a 67-year-old man from Mulberry was struck by a vehicle around 2:30am on the Lynchburg Highway near Louse Creek Road. His body was discovered about 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.
Tullahoma resident Zachary A. Collins, 25, was allegedly the driver and the case will be presented to a grand jury.

The attitude around marijuana may be shifting, but on the federal level, it has not.
Marijuana is a Schedule I narcotic, with the likes of LSD and Heroine. It’s also now legal for recreational use in 10 states.
Now, law enforcement is caught in the middle.
“No matter what the states do, the federal government has marijuana as an illegal drug,” noted Franklin County Sheriff, Tim Fuller. “So, what some of our states are doing is sending a mixed message.”
Sheriff Fuller added, “I’ve been in law enforcement 37 years and it’s been a problem for 37 years,” he said. “There’s more coming by way of mail, UPS, FedEx, we’ve run into more of that than we used to.”
It’s a trend rising all across the state. According to the TBI, in 2017 drug and narcotics violations rose by just over 6%. (WKRN-TV)

Animal cruelty has recently been reported as heavy on Monteagle Mountain. Now Grundy County Sheriff Clint Shrum has scheduled a Community Action Meeting that will focus on animal abuse and cruelty.
Saturday, February 16, the public is invited to join the sheriff at 10:30 am at the courthouse in Altamont to come up with an action plan.
Sheriff Shrum says that this issue is not one the sheriff’s office can tackle alone.
The sheriff said he is going to hand out a list of resources and contacts that he feels would be helpful in hopes that someone or a group in the community would work on this project.
Sheriff Shrum said he believes it is important that they also address that “animal abuse, not always, but many times animal abuse and cruelty can be an indicator of people abuse.”
He added that there are things that can be uncovered because of animal abuse.
“I think the other thing we need to understand is this, a lot of times animals are just dumped. They end up in people’s property. Those people can’t take care of them and they don’t have a resource.” Sheriff Shrum explained. “What we would like to do is get together a little network, and hopefully, come up with a few contacts so when we run into this, we can call these contacts and say hey this is what we’ve got and get some help.”
Sheriff Shrum said he wants the community to come out and share their ideas.
For more information, visit the Grundy County Sheriff’s office Facebook page.

An undercover beer buying operation conducted by Warren County authorities has resulted in clerks at seven businesses being summoned to court.
McMinnville Police and the Warren County Sheriff’s Department conducted the operation on December 17th and 18th. Officers utilized an underage operative, checking for compliance at all convenience markets in McMinnville and Warren County with regards to underage beer sales.
Authorities say the majority of markets refused to sell to the operative. However, sales were made at Super Gas, Mt. Leo Market, South Chancery Gulf, Crisp Springs Market, Owens Market, Morrison Market and Jewel’s Market.
Criminal summons were issued to the clerks in violation and cases will be held on March 5th in General Sessions Court.
Warren County Sheriff Tommy Myers and Police Chief Bryan Denton expressed their appreciation to those establishments who followed the law and provided appropriate training to their clerks.