Bredesen’s TennCare cuts will impact county
Gov. Phil Bredesen’s proposed TennCare changes will hit Warren County hard, according to figures from the governor’s office published earlier this year.
Almost a third, 3,244 of the county’s 10,600 TennCare enrollees, will receive notification of disenrollment during this process. Notification began the week of June 6 and Tony Garr, executive director of the Tennessee Health Care Campaign, says it is important that all who receive notification fill out and return their so-called “brown pages” to the Department of Human Services within the required 30-day time limit. Also, if DHS does not have your current address you won’t get your letter. To check your address, call (866) 311-4287 and follow the instructions.
Locally, the Senior Center of McMinnville-Warren County will be holding a “help desk” program this Friday, June 17 at the Senior Center located at 809 Morrison Street. For more information contact the Senior Center at 473-6559. The program will be from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
According to Connie Levenhagen of the Tennessee Mental Health Consumers Association, there will be six to eight volunteers at the session to offer help to those who may have difficulty filling out their brown pages. The help is available to everyone, not just seniors, who need to return their brown pages.
“We just want them to know how important it is to get those back within 30 days,” said Levenhagen. “Even though they send them back we know everybody’s not going to get back on, we know that, but we want them to have that opportunity anyway. Whether they do or they don’t, they need to send it back in.”
Levenhagen says the disenrollments will have a major effect locally.
“I don’t think people really understand what an impact it’s going to make on Warren County,” Levenhagen said, “as far as the hospitals, the economy, jails even.”
Levenhagen pointed out that when patients with severe mental health issues lose access to medication they tend to end up incarcerated in many cases, which could happen as a result of the TennCare cuts.
Levenhagen said many advocates say Bredesen’s TennCare cuts are too severe.
“We realize that there has to be reform,” Levenhagen said. “We realize that, but this is just not the way. This is going to hurt hundreds of families, people who are trying really hard to make it. We just can’t let this happen.”
Garr says there is still a chance to prevent the drastic changes to TennCare proposed by Bredesen.
“Get involved,” said Garr, “because this is not a done deal. We can reverse this if enough people speak out.”
Garr says the cuts may not really be needed.
“These cuts actually have proven to be not necessary,” Garr said. “But the governor has chosen to do them anyway, more for political and philosophical reasons. He just doesn’t like TennCare. So he’s getting rid of TennCare, but he’s not replacing it with anything, and that’s the problem.”
Even though the movement to save TennCare is still very much in action, Levenhagen and Garr both say it’s important to fulfill the requirements of the disenrollment notifications and return the brown pages within the 30 days of notification. Levenhagen emphasized the local program is available to everyone.
“Whoever gets the notifications,” Levenhagen said. “Whoever wants to come over, we’ll do what we can to assist them.”
There is also a wealth of information about TennCare disenrollment at the Tennessee Health Care Campaign’s special TennCare Web site at www.tenncare.org.