MURFREESBORO — Republican Gov. Bill Haslam announced Thursday he now has a GOP state Senate sponsor for his Insure Tennessee proposal after state Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris, R-Collierville, balked at carrying the measure.
Haslam told reporters in Murfreesboro that Sen. Doug Overbey of Collierville will sponsor the resolution, which the GOP-dominated General Assembly will consider in a special session that begins Monday.
The governor’s announcement came as he wrapped up a statewide tour in Murfreesboro promoting what he calls his “market-driven” plan to extend health insurance coverage to 280,000 low-income Tennesseans. In its first full year, the program would rely on $1.4 billion in federal Medicaid dollars.
Norris’ refusal underscores the challenges Haslam has in persuading a number of fellow Republicans to accept a plan that relies on funding from Democratic President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act or really anything to do with the law, known as Obamacare.
State House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, has already agreed to carry the resolution, which empowers Haslam to pursue a waiver of federal Medicaid rules and implement a plan he says will instill personal responsibility among new enrollees and begin to control spiraling charges for care by hospitals and other providers.