MONDAY: Press Conference on Doggett’s COVER Now Act to Empower Local Leaders to Close the Medicaid Gap

***Media Advisory***

MONDAY: Press Conference on Doggett's COVER Now Act to Empower Local Leaders to Close the Medicaid Gap

Austin, T.X. – Monday, June 21, 2021, at 10 AM, at the CommUnity Care Southeast Health and Wellness Center in Austin, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Chair of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, will join Texas health care leaders to unveil the COVER Now Act—to empower local leaders to overcome State obstructionists and close the Medicaid coverage gap. This bill is cosponsored by every Democratic Congressmember from Texas, along with the vast majority of Democrats from non-expansion states.

This bill would, for the first time, allow local leaders to help their vulnerable residents in states like Texas that have declined to accept federal resources for Medicaid expansion. Nearly six million Americans—including over two million Texans—primarily from communities of color, remain uninsured due to Republican ideological entrenchment and indifference. The COVER Now Act takes bold action with a new, homegrown approach to protect the right to care: It enables willing local leaders to accept directly federal resources to achieve both the public health and financial benefits of Medicaid expansion.

Leaders will share the urgent need for expansion right here in Texas, explain how the bill will work and who it will help, uplift patient stories, and provide insight into the path forward for this much-needed legislation. Press are invited to attend in person, and there will be time for a Q&A. Masks are required in the building. Media are asked to park in the back of the building and can utilize the back or side entrances.

What: Press Conference on the COVER Now Act with Texas health care leaders

When: Monday, June 21, 2021 10 AM CST

Where: CommUnity Care Southeast Health and Wellness Center: 2901 Montopolis Drive, Austin, TX

Who:

• U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett
• Jaeson Fournier, CommUnity Care and Mike Geeslin, Central Health
• State Representative Donna Howard
• State Senator Nathan Johnson
• Travis County Judge Andy Brown
• Travis County Commissioner Margaret Gomez
• Rev. B.W. McClendon, St. James Missionary Baptist Church
• Anne Dunkelberg, Every Texan
• Stephanie Rubin, Texans Care for Children
• Cindy Ji, Texas Children's Defense Fund

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