A new report revealed the negative impact that the state's health care "gap" has been having on local communities.
The report was released this week by the Tennessee Justice Center in Nashville.
People in the health care gap earned too little to pay for private insurance, but have not qualified for TennCare, the state's version of Medicaid.
In all, 280,000 Tennesseans have had no access to health care.
Based on a cross section of data collected from Tennesseans participating in 11 community meetings across the state, participants reported knowing an average of 28 people in the gap.
According to the Tennessee Justice Center, the report emphasized the need for Governor Bill Haslam's plan to extend health care to the thousands of Tennesseans without it.
The proposal failed in the last legislative session. Some state lawmakers and health care advocates have discussed trying to revive it in the session that starts in January.
