Tennessee Senate Committee Passes Bredesen Proposal To Expand Health Insurance, Drops Another

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 05 May 2006 - 19:00 PDT

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The Tennessee Senate Commerce, Labor and Agriculture Committee on Monday considered two proposals to expand health insurance in the state, advancing a plan by Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) and failing to get enough votes to advance a separate proposal by state Sens. Diane Black (R) and Jim Bryson (R), the AP/Memphis Commercial Appeal reports. The committee voted 8-0 to advance Bredesen's plan that would subsidize health coverage for uninsured workers. The proposal also includes health benefits for uninsured children and people with serious pre-existing conditions, a prescription drug program and diabetes education. Bryson, a likely opponent in the gubernatorial election this fall against Bredesen, abstained from the vote, saying he has "grave concerns" about the funding mechanism and lack of details about the program. He said he would like to split the uninsured coverage section into a separate bill. Black and Bryson's measure failed to advance to the Senate Finance Committee after four Democrats and one Republican abstained. Four Republicans on the committee voted in favor of the measure. The proposal was aimed at "uninsurable" people who have incomes too low to afford high-risk pool insurance premiums, according to the AP/Commercial Appeal. Under the proposal, the state would have had to pay $108 million annually to keep the program running. State Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz told the committee that the measure could exhaust TennCare reserves (Schelzig, AP/Memphis Commercial Appeal, 5/2).

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