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From Mark's Desk: Time’s Up for TennCare by State Senator Mark Norris Access to affordable care is harder to come by for growing numbers of Tennesseans. Private health insurance coverage is increasingly difficult to secure, and TennCare is no longer available even to those willing to pay substantial premiums for its coverage. TennCare is closed to new enrollees. It is over capacity, but the Bureau of TennCare cannot verify that those already enrolled are truly eligible. Sometimes, it seems the only thing “managed care” in Tennessee has managed to do is offer too much to too many for too little. TennCare has grown like Topsy consuming one third of the state’s resources with no relief in sight. The truly needy are turned away. Health care providers are paid less and are curtailing their practices leaving more Tennesseans, particularly rural Tennesseans, without coverage or care. After ten years of wishful thinking and slights of hand by previous Administrations who refused to account to the legislature for TennCare, last year I sponsored and passed into law Senate Bill 998— nicknamed the “Fix It or Forget It Act”. It required the Governor to come forward and report once and for all whether TennCare is truly viable. He did, and it isn’t. But the law also required the Governor to propose an alternative. The Governor admits that, without change, TennCare will require another $1.8 billion in taxpayer funding over the next four years. Those funds do not exist. The Governor requested, and received in the current fiscal year, an additional $327 million for more than $7 billion expended annually on this program. According to a new study commissioned by the Governor, almost every dollar of new revenue generated over the next four years will have to be spent on TennCare leaving nothing for education, homeland security or any other sector of state government. In his State of the State address last week, the Governor agreed we cannot allow this to happen. TennCare is not viable, and it cannot be sustained. The Governor should be commended for his candor. Replacing TennCare with a credible, fair and cost effective program is the task at hand. It will, no doubt, be very difficult to accomplish. The Governor will present his alternative proposal to the General Assembly next week. Numerous special interest groups, in denial over the demise of TennCare, will no doubt lobby to preserve benefits most dear to their particular constituencies. They may be the last to come to grips with the reality that, if we do not act responsibly to replace this failed experiment now, there may soon be no benefits at all. |
