Today's Opinions

There is no more important, or more complex, issue facing our country and our state today than healthcare.

While Tennessee is doing a better job than the rest of the country in controlling costs of Medicaid growth, the costs are still taking a larger and larger percentage of our budget each year.  

For the last several months, I’ve been working on a plan to change the way healthcare coverage looks in Tennessee.

 I went to jail last week. I wasn’t arrested. I wanted to go.

For several years I have known that a women’s jail ministry existed. I knew that each Sunday the women of Celebrate Recovery gave of themselves expecting nothing in return. But knowing it and seeing it are two different things.

So last Sunday I willingly entered the guts of the county jail. And while I will tell you I would strongly prefer never returning there I don’t regret going. 

"If he is born after midnight, he will be born on St. Patrick’s Day,” the nurse smiled, then gently closed the heavy wooden door to my labor and delivery room. I flashed a weak and nervous smile and sighed. He was not supposed to be here yet. We had already been warned that he could have a collapsed lung or spend days in the NICU. 

He was not due until mid-April, yet here we were, ready to welcome to the world our first son.