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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

TennCare Cuts, Plus Serious Illness, Equals Homelessness

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Monday, June 11, 2007   


Kingsport, TN - It's a simple equation for a family in Kingsport. Get cut from TennCare, get sick and lose your home. And that's what is happening even with Medicare prescription coverage. The Morgan family is college-educated and worked full-time until illness hit. Greg Morgan has Lou Gehrig's Disease, and his wife has multiple sclerosis. They fell into the "donut hole" earlier this year, which means Medicare insurance dropped them for several months even though they still had to pay premiums.

"When we got in the middle of the donut, we got behind in our rent -- six months behind."

Morgan's story is featured in a national report from Families USA, as one of the thousands of Tennessee families that did everything right -- worked hard, saved money, and gained an education -- yet got left behind as the TennCare health insurance system crumbled.

They try to go without medicines against doctor's orders, so they can have rent money, but he says when illnesses are as serious and his and his wife's, the physical pain and disability dictates decisions.

"It sort of skews your decision-making, and to think that you're not going to be able to have that medicine that's going to help is scary, very scary."

The report is at www.familiesusa.org.


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