Thirteen national health care organizations have issued a letter to the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration and the deputy commissioner and director of TennCare opposing the state's plan to pursue "block grants" for its Medicaid program, TennCare.
The letter - whose authors include the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association and American Lung Association - states that changing the funding structure of TennCare would jeopardize health care coverage for the approximately 1.3 million low-income Tennesseans, including three of every seven children in the state, now enrolled in the program.
"This could require the state to drastically reduce eligibility or benefits covered by the program, jeopardizing access to coverage for patients with serious and chronic illnesses and their ability to receive the treatments and services they need to manage their conditions and stay healthy," the letter says.
Patient groups have voiced concern over turning federal support of TennCare from an entitlement into a block grant program since the General Assembly passed the Medicaid block grant bill this spring. The move directed Gov. Bill Lee to seek a waiver to convert the $7.6 billion in federal funding that now pays for the TennCare program into a block grant.
If approved, Tennessee would be the first state to fund its Medicaid program this way.
Proponents of the block grant say it will free TennCare from burdensome federal restrictions and allow the state to better allocate funds where they're needed most.
However, many health care advocacy groups say eliminating federal guidelines also removes important patient protections. They say it could drastically increase costs, translating to less patient access, because block granting does not consider changing demographics or periodic economic downturns.
Shannon Baker, the director of Advocacy for the Lung Association in Tennessee, said this is especially concerning given Tennessee is in the top five states for COPD incidence and will have more than 6,000 new lung cancer cases projected this year.
"Less funding is never better, and block grants would inherently limit funding from the federal government," Baker said. "So not only is this a bad deal for Tennesseans with these chronic conditions, it's a bad deal for Tennessee."
She said TennCare's director recently voiced plans to schedule public hearings around the issue in the coming weeks, and a TennCare spokesperson said those public meetings will take place this fall.
"Tennesseans need to know what's going on with block grants and what the true implications are so they can have a voice," Baker said.
Contact Elizabeth Fite at efite@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6673.