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6 of 7 who killed Insure Tennessee are on state health plan

In this photo taken Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015, state Sens. Todd Gardenhire, right, R-Chattanooga, and Mike Bell, R-Riceville, confer during a Senate Health Committee meeting in Nashville, Tenn. Gardenhire and Bell, who are both covered under the state-subsidized health plan, voted against Gov. Bill Haslam's proposal to extend insurance to 280,000 low-income Tennesseans. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig)
In this photo taken Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015, state Sens. Todd Gardenhire, right, R-Chattanooga, and Mike Bell, R-Riceville, confer during a Senate Health Committee meeting in Nashville, Tenn. Gardenhire and Bell, who are both covered under the state-subsidized health plan, voted against Gov. Bill Haslam's proposal to extend insurance to 280,000 low-income Tennesseans. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig) In this photo taken Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015, state Sens. Todd Gardenhire, right, R-Chattanooga, and Mike Bell, R-Riceville, confer during a Senate Health Committee meeting in Nashville, Tenn. Gardenhire and Bell, who are both covered under the state-subsidized health plan, voted against Gov. Bill Haslam's proposal to extend insurance to 280,000 low-income Tennesseans. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig)

By Associated Press 3 min read

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Six of the seven Republican senators who voted to kill Gov. Bill Haslam’s proposal to extend health coverage to 280,000 low-income Tennesseans are enrolled in the state government health plan.

The state-insured senators include Sen. Todd Gardenhire of Chattanooga, according to records obtained by The Associated Press under state open records laws. During a committee debate, Gardenhire had declared that he uses private insurance.

The Senate Health Committee voted 7-4 on Wednesday to defeat Haslam’s Insure Tennessee proposal that Haslam said would have brought $2.8 billion in federal money into the state at no costs to the taxpayer.

During the debate, newly-elected Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, suggested that lawmakers receiving government subsidies for their insurance should be more receptive to the governor’s proposal to insure poor Tennesseans.

“Virtually every member of the Tennessee General Assembly receives some form of tax-subsidized health care,” Yarbro said. “And before we make the decision to do nothing, I just think any members who are opposed or have doubts about this would offer some type of suggestion about what the governor’s plan should be.”