NASHVILLE – Some Tennessee health care provider groups continue to have questions about Gov. Bill Lee’s proposed federal TennCare waiver, which seeks to provide the state with greater flexibility in managing the program’s $12.7 billion in costs.
But they also see some “positives” in the proposal to overhaul federal financing and state operations in the state’s Medicaid health insurance program for 1.4 million low-income children, parents and caretakers, the disabled and some seniors.
“We still have some concerns about it, mostly around what are you talking about when you say ‘efficiency,'” said Craig Becker, president and CEO of the Tennessee Hospital Association. “We’ve gotten some verbal assurances, but you know we will probably comment one way or the other just talking about some of our concerns.”
But Becker said there is a potential upside for hospitals.
The state is in the midst of a 30-day public comment period after Lee’s administration earlier this month formally unveiled its proposed federal Medicaid waiver to the Trump administration. It could dramatically reshape the state’s share of federal funding as well as as alter how TennCare operates, impacting hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans.