Why Tennessee Democrats Want To Make Health Care The Main Issue

WPLN | By Chas Sisk

Published January 14, 2018 at 9:00 AM CST

July 1 is the usual start date for new state laws.

The Tri-Star State — A Tennessee Politics Podcast — Week of Jan. 14, 2018

Democrats in the Tennessee legislature moved swiftly last week to make health care the first debate of the 2018 session.

They’ve called for expanding Medicaid, re-upping funding for a children’s health insurance program and criticized a proposal to strip funding from Planned Parenthood. They even suggested they’d go along with a Republican-led work requirement for TennCare.

All that, and the session is just a few days old.

Nashville Public Radio’s Jason Moon Wilkins and statehouse reporter, Chas Sisk, unpack what that strategy is all about in this week's episode of The Tri-Star State.

Chas Sisk

Chas joined WPLN in 2015 after eight years with The Tennessean, including more than five years as the newspaper's statehouse reporter.Chas has also covered communities, politics and business in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. Chas grew up in South Carolina and attended Columbia University in New York, where he studied economics and journalism. Outside of work, he's a dedicated distance runner, having completed a dozen marathons

See stories by Chas Sisk