Posted on 12/07/2005 10:22:54 AM PST by SmithL
NASHVILLE - TennCare will resume accepting some of the state's sickest patients earlier than expected and will offer more generous eligibility guidelines, Gov. Phil Bredesen announced Tuesday.
The governor has cut 191,000 people from the TennCare rolls and reduced benefits for thousands of others to control costs in the $8.7 billion program.
He earlier said he would keep 97,000 "medically needy" adults on the program if the state got relief from a 1999 agreement with legal advocates for Tenn-Care patients. A federal judge has granted most of that relief.
On Tuesday, Bredesen said the TennCare reforms mean the medically needy category could open as early as February rather than July and will provide applicants a full 12 months of coverage without proof of medical bill expenses every three months as outlined in an original legal agreement.
"It is an enormous pleasure to stand before you and bring you this good news on TennCare," Bredesen said at a news conference. "Sound management of TennCare is beginning to show positive results."
The medically needy are those with high, unpaid medical bills that reduce their income enough to qualify for TennCare, the state's expanded Medicaid program.
Bredesen was joined by House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, who said he and his colleagues worked with the governor to create a "more generous option for covering these medically needy TennCare enrollees."
"People are concerned, and they want us to continue to look for ways to help them," said Naifeh, D-Covington.
Last month, TennCare Director J.D. Hickey told the governor during a budget hearing that the reforms will allow TennCare to close the 2005 fiscal year by using less money from the reserve fund than expected. He said the program will also be able to work within next year's fiscal budget without a supplemental appropriation or reserves.
However, legal advocates have said cuts wouldn't have been necessary if the state had relied on those reserves and budget surplus money.
"You have to ask yourself what are the TennCare reserves for if not to protect people when they are in a deep medical crisis," Gordon Bonnyman, executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center, said Tuesday.
Bredesen reiterated Tuesday that cutting people from TennCare has been tough but said he continues to look for ways to help those who have been removed from the rolls.
Tenn Care is a nightmare for doctors, hospitals, .... and patients.
Good news for them, bad news for all the taxpayers in Tennessee. Bredesen and the Legislature are going to point to lack of funding for "needy" people as a reason to force an income tax in the state.
Limitations should have been imposed on TennCare - ie. generic-only prescriptions when availible and limits on doctor visits - along with modest cutting of patients eligible for other coverage. I'm no TC expert, but it seems even a UT MBA could have fixed the program by now.
I'm tired of paying for someone else's problems.
I guess they had to wait for enough patients to die.
It isn't the doctor visits. It's the hospitalization--the expensive infrastructure of technicians, administration, plant, equiptment--just your average hospital is starting to be like NASA to run!
I'd love to be able to pay for doc visits, and not have to pay for hospitalization!
Yet, whenever there is comment on the crisis in paying for health care, everyone wants to focus on the hundred bucks they pay for a doc visit--
Hillary care is dug out of the grave, pale and covered with dirt, but apparently still alive
I got the inpression that the Legislature is trying to bring in the income tax and the only roadblock was Bredesen.
I know he fought his party over the his opposition to an income tax.
Then again, I think he is also looking to possibly run for President (he would never win a dem primary, hell, there are way to many Freepers who like him).
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