Bredesen says simplicity key to covering uninsured workers
Bredesen told small business owners that his plan to have the state, employers and workers share the cost of health insurance will only work if options — and costs — are kept to a minimum.
“I think all the great ideas — and the powerful ideas — are basically simple ones,” Bredesen said.
When he makes his pitch to the General Assembly next month, Bredesen said he will urge them not to add to many bells and whistles to the program.
“If it’s gold-plated, I’m just going to have to throw my hands up and veto it,” he said.
About one in 10 Tennesseans — or about 580,000 residents — don’t have health insurance, a state study found last year. The largest portion of them work full time.
Under one scenario being evaluated by Bredesen’s team, the $150 monthly cost of health insurance could be split up to $50 from the state, $75 from the employer and $25 from the employee.
If the program were to cover 250,000 uninsured residents at $50 per month each, it would cost the state $150 million per year — equal to the annual increase in some TennCare categories, Bredesen said.
The uninsured population targeted by Bredesen’s program lives outside of TennCare, the state’s expanded Medicaid program that covers 1.2 million poor, uninsured and disabled people.
Officials have said mismanagement of TennCare contributed to out-of-control costs that plunged the program into a fiscal crisis, leading Bredesen to remove about 191,000 adults and cut benefits for thousands of others last year.
Bredesen, a New York native, acknowledged that his insurance program for low-income workers has drawn some inspiration from the Healthy New York program, but argued that Tennessee’s initiative must be more expansive to be successful.
“The Healthy New York program has about 100,000 people,” Bredesen said. “If you take into account how much larger New York is than we are, that would be the equivalent of 20,000 here.
“It would be a disappointment and a failure if we only had 20,000 after it had been running for a couple years,” he said.
While some other states have begun to evaluate ways to cover their uninsured, Bredesen said his program will have to be much more innovative.
“This thing here is more like taking your machete and heading out into the woods and trying to blaze a trail,” he said.