Tennessee Governor Bill Lee proclaimed November 2026 as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Awareness Month, recognizing a disease that affects more than one in 10 Tennessee adults.
According to Lee’s proclamation, an estimated 30 million Americans have COPD, but only 17 million have received a diagnosis. In Tennessee, 10.2 percent of adults report having been diagnosed with the progressive lung disease, which makes breathing increasingly difficult by damaging the airways or parts of the lungs.
Tennessee has proclaimed November COPD Awareness Month! 🫁
With one in 10 Tennessee adults living with COPD, the COPD Action Alliance thanks @GovBillLee and calls on leaders to expand early screening and end insurance barriers that delay care.
Read more about #COPD and… pic.twitter.com/OnPxV5GDwL
— COPD Action Alliance (@COPDaction) November 2, 2026
COPD, which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, is the fourth-leading cause of death in Tennessee and the fifth-leading cause of death nationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The state’s COPD death rate has doubled since 1969, even as deaths from other chronic conditions have declined, according to the proclamation.
Lee’s proclamation also notes that COPD-related medical treatment costs for Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance in Tennessee totaled approximately $759.6 million in 2019.
While smoking is the primary risk factor, approximately 25 percent of people with COPD have never smoked. Other risk factors include prolonged exposure to air pollutants and other lung irritants, asthma, childhood respiratory infections, and genetic conditions. People living in poverty and rural communities also face a higher risk, the proclamation says.
The COPD Action Alliance applauded Lee’s proclamation but urged lawmakers to follow the recognition with policy changes.
Sarah Hoffman, director of the COPD Action Alliance, said too many Tennesseans are diagnosed only after losing lung function and face insurance barriers, including step therapy and prior authorization, which she stressed delay access to treatments prescribed by their doctors.
“Recognition is a start, but it must be followed by action,” Hoffman said. “We urge lawmakers in Nashville and Washington to expand early screening, end the insurance barriers that delay care and make lung health the priority it should be.”
The alliance is calling on state and federal policymakers to “invest in prevention and early diagnosis, eliminate insurance barriers that delay prescribed treatment, expand access to pulmonary rehabilitation and treat COPD as the major national public health challenge it is.”
Although COPD is not curable, it is often preventable and treatable.
Lee’s proclamation highlights the importance of pulmonary rehabilitation, which can lower the risk of death following a COPD-related hospitalization. However, only 2 percent of patients receive the treatment, according to the proclamation.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
