A Republican-dominated task force examining ways to expand health care in Tennessee might be favoring a phased-in approach that would initially cover only a small percentage of the state’s uninsured, but might then be expanded assuming the program meets its goals.
“We might put in a partial population, and then once we are sure we can control the cost, and that the program is functioning as it should be,” it could be expanded, said task force member Rep. Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, who led a panel that spent two hours Tuesday morning in a community room at BlueCross BlueShield headquarters debating what to do about health care in the state.
Last month, House Speaker Beth Harwell set up the task force in an effort to find alternatives to the Insure Tennessee Medicaid expansion, which lawmakers have voted down twice. Because most of its members are conservative GOP lawmakers, the group’s recommendations may be more likely to win the approval of those who opposed Medicaid expansion in the past.
Currently, the majority of Tennesseans are covered by health insurance provided by their employers or their spouses’ employers. Some of those who are poor receive Medicaid under TennCare, but the program is limited to the elderly, disabled, and children and their parents, provided their income is less than $26,100 for a family of four.
Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, another large group buys insurance from a health care exchange, with most purchasers getting a subsidy to help pay for the cost, depending on their income.