Legislators candid about budget woes: Say Tennessee once again faces serious issues
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With continuing budget woes, punctuated by the dire need for TennCare reform, Curtiss said lawmakers have their hands full.
“Government has treated its problems like a stray dog,” said Curtiss. “We figure if we don’t feed it, and aren’t nice to it, then it will eventually go away.
“With the budget, the lottery and TennCare, we have some real issues we need to address. And the real tragedy of the situation is we’ve got people who need health care who we’re kicking off TennCare.”
Curtiss, along with state Sen. Jerry Cooper and state Rep. Judd Matheny, addressed Warren countians during Friday morning’s annual Legislative Breakfast sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. The three talked about major issues facing Tennesseans and then opened the floor to questions.
Teacher pay, jobs, and the meth problem were all topics of discussion, but TennCare and the state’s budget crisis dominated the conversation.
Sen. Cooper talked about Gov. Phil Bredesen’s proposed 9 percent across-the-board reduction in state services and the impact of such a move. Cooper said the good news is he doesn’t foresee a tax increase from the state this year. The bad news is he hopes local governments aren’t forced to pick up the slack and raise taxes at home.
Cooper said while it’s certainly not a popular option at this time, the state gasoline tax hasn’t been raised in 14 years. He said if the state raises the gas tax by 5 cents, that would make a tremendous impact.
As for health care, none of the representatives seemed thrilled with kicking people off the TennCare roles, but said that’s what must be done. TennCare was designed to accommodate 900,000, maybe even 1 million people, according to Cooper, but has currently expanded coverage to 1.4 to 1.5 million people.
“We need to force more people to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps,” said Matheny. “We’re looking at policy, possibly retooling the program under another name, instead of throwing more money into a program which appears to be broken.”
Said Curtiss, “I’d like to see a higher percentage of health care dollars go to the health care provider and not some middle man raking in the profits.”
Matheny, who is a former police officer, also emphasized the meth problem. He said in an effort to educate other legislators about the meth problem, he’s leading a seminar this Tuesday where he will show members of the General Assembly just how easy it is to make meth. Drug agent Lee Nettles will set up a meth lab and simulate the actual manufacture of meth during the seminar.
“I want to show the General Assembly just how easy it is to walk into Wal-Mart with a $100 bill and walk out and make meth,” said Matheny. “I want to introduce to the General Assembly just how much of an epidemic we have.”