State Sens. Todd Gardenhire, right, R-Chattanooga, and Mike Bell, R-Riceville, confer during a Senate Health Committee meeting in Nashville in this photo taken Feb. 4, 2015. Gardenhire and Bell, who are both covered under the state-subsidized health plan, voted against Gov. Bill Haslam's proposal to extend insurance to 280,000 low-income Tennesseans. Read more
Insure Tennessee failure a cautionary tale, experts say
Three Republicans and a Democrat voted in favor of the pilot project, which would have resulted in $2.8 billion in federal funds. Tennessee hospitals had agreed to pay the state share.
"It's legislative malpractice," Democratic Party Chairman Mary Mancini said of the six Republicans who have state coverage and voted against the resolution. "It is hypocritical, but there's also a larger issue which again is they're not caring about the 280,000 folks without health care, when they're able to go to the doctor whenever they want and pay their medical bills and other folks can't."
Efforts to reach Gardenhire on Thursday were unsuccessful.
Names of lawmakers in the 132-member General Assembly who are on the state plan were released by the Department of Finance on Thursday in response to a Times Free Press request under the state Open Records Act.
Based on figures provided by state legislative officials, the Times Free Press reported Monday that 116 of 132 lawmakers - 88 of 99 House representatives and 28 of 33 senators - in the GOP-dominated General Assembly were on the state plan, which pays 80 percent of their monthly premiums.
Legislative officials released the number of lawmakers enrolled but said they were forbidden to release their names under federal health privacy laws. Finance officials released the names Thursday after checking with their attorneys.
According to the records, the other Republicans voting against Haslam's Insure Tennessee who are on the state health plan are: Sens. Mike Bell, of Riceville; Brian Kelsey, of Germantown; Frank Niceley, of Strawberry Plains; Kerry Roberts, of Springfield; and Health Committee Chairman Rusty Crowe, of Johnson City.
Kelsey took a high-profile role in opposing the plan.
Also voting against it was Sen. Janice Bowling, R-Tullahoma, who is not on the state plan. Three Republicans and the Health Committee's lone Democrat voted "yes" in Wednesday's 7-4 vote.
Things grew testy prior to the vote when freshman Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, pointed out to fellow committee members "that virtually every member of the Tennessee General Assembly receives some form of tax-subsidized health care."
He also called on GOP critics to make "some type of suggestion about what the governor's plan should be."
Gardenhire took quick offense at Yarbro's remarks, saying, "Sen. Yarbro, I've heard you twice kind of take a slap at some of us, and I'm getting a little resentful of it. I have a very nice health care [plan] provided to me through my private employer."
He accused Yarbro of saying Republicans weren't taking the resolution seriously. As Yarbro tried to respond, Gardenhire said, "I know you're new, but you need to learn and respect us."
Speaking with a Times Free Press reporter later on Wednesday, Gardenhire, who is halfway through his first four-year term, said he did have insurance through the state plan but had never used it. He quipped that he was "subsidizing" colleagues.
He told The Associated Press on Thursday he was under the mistaken impression that he was required to join the state plan.
"When I signed up everybody said, 'Here, sig these papers,' so I said OK," Gardenhire was quoted as saying. "I'm going to cancel it."
Yarbo said Thursday he is "not being critical" of colleagues "for being on the state health plan," noting he is, too. "I just think we've got 280,000 Tennesseans who don't have insurance but they're paying taxes that go to subsidize our health care coverage whether we use it or not."
He said "the least we can do is to try to put together a plan where they can afford insurance themselves."
While Republicans have been running against Obamacare for years, Yarbro last year aired a television ad that backed Medicaid expansion and criticized the Legislature for not acting.
"If the Republicans in the Legislature didn't have health insurance, you can be sure they'd pass the law to provide it," Yarbro said in the ad. "But when it's working people and 90,000 kids, they play politics instead."
Other lawmakers on the state health plan include Republican House Speaker Beth Harwell and Republican Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey.
Contact staff writer Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550.