The Tennessee State Capitol in downtown Nashville.NASHVILLE – The nation’s largest seniors’ group is applauding the failure of legislation that would have let Tennessee join with states and ask Congress for permission to run most federal health care programs in their states.
“We are thrilled that our representatives recognized the potential problems with this legislation,” AARP Tennessee Advocacy Director Shelley Courington said Tuesday.
Republican Rep. Mark Pody’s Health Care Compact legislation failed on a 9-9 vote in the House Insurance and Banking Committee.
Several Republicans joined Democrats in questioning why the bill was needed and raising concerns about potential problems it would create with federal funding for TennCare, the state’s version of the Medicaid program for low-income Tennesseans.
Others have questioned what would happen if Tennessee was put in charge of running the federal Medicare program for 1.1 million seniors in the state.