Lawmakers: Where’s the TennCare safety net?

NASHVILLE (AP) — Lawmakers are concerned that nearly six weeks after Gov. Phil Bredesen began cutting thousands of adults from the state’s public health care program, officials have not distributed any of the funds legislators set aside to provide expanded access to doctors and nurses.

The governor has said he’s cutting about 190,000 adults from TennCare and reducing benefits for thousands of others because the state cannot afford the $8.7 billion program in its current form.

He’s tried to soften the blow with a so-called “safety net” program, which he recently expanded to provide four months of coverage for the disenrolled who need insulin, as well as allow local pharmacies to provide free generic drugs to people being cut.

But apparently, the $105 million program has not yet taken effect because private and nonprofit health clinic directors statewide say they haven’t received any of the $12 million promised to hire new physicians or expand clinic hours.

As a result, they say they’re unable to handle the heavy volume of former TennCare patients wanting to see doctors, and have had to turn some people away.

“It’s very, very sad,” said staff member Joan Thomas of the Good Samaritan Medical-Dental Ministry in Clarksville. “I don’t know what to tell them.”

Rep. Gary Odom, a Nashville Democrat who sits on the TennCare Oversight Committee, said the situation is puzzling.

“What good is a safety net that goes into place weeks after disenrollment has taken place?” Odom asked.

The state Department of Health also has plans to hire 234 new doctors, nurses and other staff to provide basic health care at county health department clinics. However, none of them has been hired, and the original plan for the safety net doesn’t call for them to all be in place until at least January, according to Andrea Turner, an agency spokeswoman.

Meanwhile, more than 100,000 people have already lost TennCare benefits and 90,000 more will lose them when the process ends in the coming weeks.

State officials say they’re aware of the concerns and are working diligently.

“We’re pushing all these things as quickly as we can,” said Jim Shulman, who oversees the safety net for the state Department of Finance and Administration.

“State government typically works very slowly in their processes. The same people working on the primary-care safety net have been working to get a drug safety net in place. There’s a lot of things rolling around with the safety net and they’re all hitting at the same time.”