Tennessee passes health insurance reform package

The legislation includes a new insurance initiative, a high-risk pool and Tennessee's first State Children's Health Insurance Program.

By Elaine Monaghan, AMNews staff. June 12, 2006.

Washington -- Doctors said they like the goals of the just-passed Tennessee legislation aimed at covering a chunk of the state's approximately 600,000 uninsured residents. But they're worried about the lack of details.

It's understandable that Cover Tennessee is thin on specifics, given that it was just given the green light on May 23, said Tennessee Medical Assn. Senior Vice President Russ Miller.

"Our hope is that this summer, the governor will openly consult with the physicians in Tennessee who will be responsible for actually providing the care," he said. "That was a major stumbling block with TennCare over a decade ago, and we would hate to see a repeat of that."

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, cut 200,000 adults from TennCare, the state's alternative to Medicaid, last year due to ballooning costs. The managed care program, which covered one in four residents, was the most generous state program in the nation but had a troubled history.

Bredesen has given the medical society only "the 30,000-foot overview" of the newly passed program, Miller said. "Hopes and dreams, we have found, can come up a little short once implemented. But if we work together, Cover Tennessee can be a very progressive chapter in health care here."

Tennessee is the third state this year to pass sweeping reforms aimed at covering its uninsured residents, after Massachusetts and Vermont.

The governor, who lobbied hard for the plan after presenting it in March, celebrated the Legislature's approval of the $300-million, three-year health insurance package. Exact enrollment figures are not available, but initial forecasts by Bredesen's office show about one-third of the uninsured being covered in three years. "It's clear that Tennesseans want to provide affordable and portable coverage for most needed health services, and I'm glad we're now able to move ahead toward implementation," he said.