Insure Tennessee at a glance:
December 2014: Gov. Bill Haslam proposes implementing Insure Tennessee, a two-pronged approach to providing federally funded health care to hundreds of thousands of low-income Tennesseans. Haslam had worked on a deal with federal health officials for months before announcing the plan.February 2015: Lawmakers kill Insure Tennessee after three days of a special legislative session. Administration officials and other supporters dominated the testimony, but lawmakers discussed their mistrust of the federal government to pay for every cost and their issues in general with the Affordable Care Act.March 2015: Lawmakers try to revive Insure Tennessee during the regular legislative session. They include changes to the proposal that supporters hoped would appease opponents. They did not: Another Senate committee killed the proposal after very little discussion.August 2015: Haslam says he still believes Insure Tennessee is right for the state, but doesn’t sense that enough lawmakers have changed their minds on the plan.
NASHVILLE – Supporters of Insure Tennessee suffered another loss at the hands of the attorney general this week, and Gov. Bill Haslam potentially lost some leverage, in the ongoing debate over expanding health care coverage to low-income Tennesseans.
In a new opinion, Attorney General Herbert Slatery argued Haslam can’t implement any form of Medicaid expansion without lawmaker approval.
The opinion probably doesn’t change the already tenuous chances for Insure Tennessee to pass next legislative session. Although Haslam reached a deal with federal officials to provide hundreds of thousands of low-income Tennesseans with federally funded health care, fear of the Affordable Care Act and mistrust of the federal government drove the contentious debate.
Haslam repeatedly said he wouldn’t pursue any expansion without legislative approval. But supporters of his controversial plan, many of whom packed legislative hearings, wanted Haslam to push forward on his own after it failed in the General Assembly earlier this year.