NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – House Republican leader Gerald McCormick said Tuesday that Gov. Bill Haslam’s proposal to extend health coverage to 280,000 low-income Tennesseans would pass comfortably in a full floor vote but faces an uphill battle in legislative committees.
McCormick’s comments came in the first committee hearing on Haslam’s Insure Tennessee plan after lawmakers convened a special legislative session the previous evening. An overflow crowd of supporters and opponents jammed the committee room and hallways of the legislative office complex.
“It’s important to note what this resolution does not do: It does not implement Obamacare in Tennessee,” McCormick said. “If the governor had wanted to do that, he could have done that in 2013 very quickly without any debate.”
Instead, McCormick said, the governor spent 21 months negotiating special deal for Tennessee that includes market-based elements like vouchers to buy private insurance, co-pays and assurances that the state could pull out of the deal if ends up being more expensive than expected.
Hospitals have pledged to cover the $74 million state share, meaning taxpayers wouldn’t be on the hook to pay for extra health insurance costs.