President Obama to speak in Nashville Wednesday | Sidelines

Obama conducted his #AskPOTUS session from Nashville, where he spoke at an elementary school, encouraging Tennessee lawmakers to come to an agreement on expanding health care coverage.

The President described the misaligned incentives in the health care system to an audience of about 70 politicians, health care executives, Insure Tennessee supporters and other Nashville-area citizens. “It’s time for Tennessee Republicans to vote to pass Insure Tennessee because it saves lives, keeps our hospitals open and improves the economy”.

Dr. Morgan Wills sees first-hand the effect of the almost 300,000 people in Tennessee without health care; like the 65-year-old man he treated this morning in his clinic.

Bryant, a breast cancer survivor, introduced the president before his speech. The 6-3 landmark decision upheld federal financial assistance to millions of low-income Americans for health insurance premiums, no matter where they live. Polling has reinforced that critique: The law has been in place for years and 16 million Americans have gained health coverage, but Obamacare is still underwater with the general public.

The White House told us Obama got his numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Cost Index, which measures changes in employee compensation over time.

Obama didn’t specifically mention the governor’s plan, Insure Tennessee – negotiated by state officials with the president’s administration.

Polling released Wednesday said more than six in 10 Americans approved of the court’s decision in the case, known as King v. Burwell.

But State Rep. Ken Goodman, D-Richmond, who represents Scotland County and is an advocate for Medicaid expansion, does not expect the Supreme Court ruling – or the governor’s position on expansion – to benefit those who are too poor to receive subsidies yet make too much to qualify for Medicaid.

Obama’s visit to Nashville also serves as a reminder of the partisan tensions that still surround Obamacare more than five years after it passed amid fierce Republican opposition. Obama mentioned Medicaid expansion only obliquely in prepared remarks, noting that some states have refused to expand eligibility for the program because of politics. “It doesn’t have to be the way he would solve it; it doesn’t have to be the way some other state would do it. But we have people that are uninsured in Tennessee and we need to find a common-sense way to get them covered”.

Ultimately, gaining support on the state level could help create pressure on national leaders to accept the Affordable Care Act, political science experts said. Haslam attempted to add 280,000 low-income state residents to Medicaid, but was blocked by Republicans in the state legislature. It’s not the way the advocacy group would have written the plan, said Michele Johnson, executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center, but it’s a fair compromise. Now, he says, health care costs are reined in, which means workers can get more in their paychecks.

Another question about veterans’ health care was asked, and the president pointed out that the VA is entirely separate from Obamacare, but we “have to give them good health care”.