About TennCare

TennCare was created in 1994 by the state of Tennessee to replace it's original Medicaid program. TennCare is the most expansive medicaid program in the United States and operates on an $8 billion budget with an enrollment of 1.35 million people.

In February of 2004 Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen announced plans to reform the program on the basis of spiraling costs and the ever increasing number of enrollees.

Some reasons why reform is needed:

• TennCare growth will consume 91% of all state revenue growth by 2008 if left unchecked.
• TennCare costs more than the states educational system Just two drugs account for a greater expense than the cost of running the UT Medical School.
• 15% of TennCare members represent 75% of the cost
  

Other Facts about TennCare - As of February of 2004:

• Started in 1994 with a $3.2 billion budget.
• Current budget - $8 billion
• 64% from Federal funding
• 1.3 million enrollees, which includes 500,000 children.
• 23% of the state's population is enrolled in TennCare

Parts of Bredesen's position:

• Must protect children, pregnant mothers and the disabled Corruption and inefficiency have to be addressed, but increased efficiency alone can't fix the system
• More taxes can at best patch the system and delay reform for a few years, so he will not propose new taxes.
• Two safety nets. "As we put these benefit changes in place, we also need to provide safety nets. I'm proposing two of them. First, there'll be people from time to time who need some medical service that simply cannot pay. For emergencies of course a person can always go to the nearest emergency room and receive attention there as a matter of law. For non-emergency circumstances we're proposing to provide some funds to selected safety net hospitals with associated medical groups around our state and ask those hospitals to accept the responsibility to provide care without cost sharing. It's not as convenient for a beneficiary as using a private doctor or a local hospital or a pharmacy but it ensures that no one is ever denied care because of the inability to pay."
  

Some of the proposed limits:

• Some limits on the number of doctor and hospital visits (there currently are none)
• A limit of six prescriptions per month (there currently are no limits)
• Co-pays (most TennCare recipients currently do not have any co-pays)