NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Members of a health care task force assigned with proposing alternatives to Republican Gov. Bill Haslam’s Insure Tennessee plan on Tuesday stressed their desire to include “circuit breakers” to prevent out-of-control costs.
The panel was appointed by Republican House Speaker Beth Harwell of Nashville earlier this month to design the plan expanding access to health coverage to present to the federal government this summer.
State Democratic Party Chairwoman Mary Mancini criticized the panel as a “political show” to give Republicans cover for voting last year to reject Haslam’s plan to extend coverage to 280,000 low-income people in the state.
Harwell had also come under pressure from health care advocates who had bought space on 20 billboards across the state to draw attention to the failure of Insure Tennessee.
Martha Ingram, a Nashville philanthropist and one of the state’s wealthiest citizens, said she got involved because she thought lawmakers were not fulfilling their responsibilities to citizens.