Governor warns of major changes to come for TennCare
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Bredesen is scheduled to release his TennCare reform plan on Tuesday.
On Thursday, he focused his entire speech to the annual Tennessee Press Association convention on the state’s $7.1 billion expanded Medicaid program for 1.3 million poor, disabled and otherwise uninsured citizens.
Bredesen gave his starkest appraisal yet of TennCare. He also warned those who would oppose reform they would like the alternatives even less, and encouraged everyone with a stake in TennCare’s salvation to be flexible.
“The bottom line is, I believe this is the last chance for saving TennCare,” the governor said.
“We have exhausted all of our other options. If this effort is thwarted by those who have opposed changes to TennCare, I firmly believe the only remaining choice we have is to go back to a bare-bones Medicaid program, which no one wants.”
Eliminating the expanded population — those who are not Medicaid eligible — from the TennCare rolls would cut 260,000 people off their health care. The program also would lose the two-thirds matching funds the federal government now pays for their coverage.
But those eliminated would still need health care, which could create a considerable burden on doctors and hospitals in the charity care field.
The governor said returning to Medicaid also would mean drastically reducing or eliminating pharmacy benefits.
“I don’t want any of this to happen,” Bredesen said. “But the reality is, this state can no longer afford to sustain this program at its current rate of growth. Tennesseans, including patients, advocates and health care providers, are going to have to be willing to make substantial changes, or TennCare cannot be kept afloat.”
Bredesen provided further rationale for reining in the growth of TennCare, noting a recent independent study estimated it would eat up 90 percent of the state’s tax growth within five years if not significantly altered.
“Two weeks ago … I noted that if we don’t get a handle on TennCare, it will starve and kill our commitment to education. I truly believe that,” Bredesen said. “Just because we don’t spend a dollar in one place doesn’t mean it’s not wisely invested in another.”
He said the only way to achieve that balance is through fundamental change.
“TennCare’s problems are so enormous, there just isn’t an easy fix,” he said. “There’s no silver bullet. We can’t solve these problems by just tinkering around the edges.”
Despite this rather ominous assessment, Bredesen said he is committed to fixing the program, not dismantling it.
“The fact is, TennCare is a lifeline for 1.3 million Tennesseans who are battling chronic illness, coping with serious disabilities, and struggling to make ends meet,” he said.
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On the Net:
State government: http://www.Tennessee.gov
TennCare Bureau: http://www.state.tn.us/tenncare/
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