Starting Dec. 31, CoverTN will suspend enrollment in its limited-benefit health insurance program, officials announced today.
The program, which started in 2007, has reached its budget capacity after 2,500 new members were added during its latest open enrollment period.
“This really is a bittersweet moment for CoverTN,” said Gerald Reed, director of CoverTN, in a news release. “We must continue to manage the program within our budget capacity, which for now means we need to suspend new enrollment.”
Current members and those approved for coverage to start in January will be unaffected, the release said.
Because of the enrollment suspension, all businesses and individuals who have pre-qualified but have not yet enrolled with BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee must do so by Dec. 31.
State officials announced in October that enrolled for CoverKids, Tennessee’s State Children’s Health Insurance Program, called SCHIP, would be suspended at the end of November due to budget constraints, the release said. Federal and state funds pay for part of the program.
Health care reporter Emily Bregel has worked at the Chattanooga Times Free Press since July 2006. She previously covered banking and wrote for the Life section. Emily, a native of Baltimore, Md., earned a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Columbia University. She received a first-place award for feature writing from the East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists’ Golden Press Card Contest for a 2009 article about a boy with a congenital heart defect. She ...
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