Tennessee can offer affordable insurance

Every person in America has felt the pinch when it comes to health care and the costs associated with keeping themselves and their families healthy.

That pinch may be felt in the cost of premiums subtracted from your paycheck every two weeks, or in the frustrating process of securing affordable insurance when your company doesn?t offer it, or the basic inability to pay for coverage even if you have access in the first place.

The skyrocketing cost of health care is a national problem that deserves a national solution. Unfortunately, that day ? when America comes together to address the issue of healthcare costs from a national perspective?? has not yet arrived.

But as governor of this state, I cannot in good conscience stand by and wait for the folks in Washington to act on a problem that today impacts the lives and livelihood of every hard-working man and woman in America. That?s why, late last month in an address to the General Assembly, I presented my plan for what we can do in Tennessee to offer a helping hand to our citizens.

My proposal, which I call Cover Tennessee, is a modern, fiscally cautious, down-to-earth approach. It?s not the ?end-all, be-all? solution to our problem. It is not another big government entitlement program. It is not TennCare. What it is instead is a starting point that, if we?re successful, will allow us to grow step-by-step in a fiscally-responsible way.

Cover Tennessee, at its most basic, is a partnership between the state, individuals, and small business that is rooted in two core principles: affordability and portability.

First, affordability. To me, that means no more than $100 a month for an individual. We plan a benefit package that has a total cost on average of about $150 a month. Of that, the state will pay $50. Where an employer is willing to contribute, a $50 contribution on their part will leave the employee to pay $50. For perspective, a study the state conducted last year on this topic found 70 percent of the small businesses surveyed that don?t offer health insurance would take it up if premiums were $100 or less a month.

Second, portability. What I mean by that is simple: I want the individual, not the employer or the government, to own his or her own policy. If you sign up for Cover Tennessee through your job at a small business and you get laid off, you can take the policy with you. This proposal represents a fundamental rethinking of the way health insurance works. Health insurance should follow the individual.

Now, you may be asking, ?How are we going to pay for this thing?? Here?s the answer: At $50 per person, that translates to $600 a year ? meaning it will cost the state about $60 million in today?s dollars for each 100,000 people who sign up. We currently have in TennCare reserves enough money to fund the first three years. After that we?ll have to make a decision on where the funding will come from permanently. One option is an increase in the tobacco tax, but in no way am I considering an income tax or anything like it to fund this program.

Are these plans perfect? Do they cover every contingency? Will they answer every need? No. But is this a lot better than what is happening now? Does it help a great many people who truly need the help? Is it a foundation we can build upon? Absolutely, yes.

It comes back to personal responsibility ? we don?t have it in our power to promise everyone free health insurance without limits. But we do have it in our power to offer them access to affordable and portable health insurance, and then the choice is theirs.

Phil Bredesen is the governor of Tennessee. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].