Tennessee Officials Weigh Options For Funding Program To Cover The Uninsured

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 02 May 2006 - 8:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Tennessee lawmakers, state officials and patient advocates on Monday at a meeting of the Legislature's Fiscal Review Committee discussed funding options for a proposal by Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) that aims to expand coverage to some of the state's 600,000 uninsured residents, the Knoxville News-Sentinel reports. The proposal calls for Tennessee to provide a subsidy of $50 per month for uninsured residents with income less than 250% of the federal poverty level, or $24,500 for an individual, to purchase health insurance, according to the News-Sentinel. In the proposal, Bredesen calls for allocating $100 million in TennCare reserve money to cover the estimated cost. If more people than anticipated enroll in the program or if the cost estimates are incorrect, the state would need to find a new funding source within two years, state Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz said. At the hearing, Goetz said that if a new funding source is not found, the Bredesen administration would be willing to "pull the plug" on the plan. He added that imposing higher cigarette taxes is a likely funding source. Sen. David Fowler (R) questioned whether the Legislature would be willing to impose a tax increase. Sen. Jim Bryson (R) said the administration should set up a funding source now, but Goetz said he is waiting to hear proposals for "a good funding source" (Humphrey, Knoxville News-Sentinel, 4/25).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

• Additional
• References
• Citations