NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam has named Wendy Long as the state's new TennCare director.
Long was TennCare's chief medical officer from 2004 to 2012. She replaces Darin Gordon, who is leaving after 10 years as head of the state's expanded Medicaid program.
Haslam has credited Gordon with helping to stabilize the TennCare program after it had seen 10 directors come and go in the 12 previous years. The $10.5 billion TennCare program covers 1.5 million people, or about one in every five Tennesseans.
Gordon was one of the main architects of Haslam's Insure Tennessee proposal to extend health coverage to 280,000 low-income Tennesseans. But GOP lawmakers defeated the plan amid worries that it was too closely linked to President Barack Obama's signature health care law.