Insure Tennessee picks up GOP Senate sponsor

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam presides over a meeting at the Jackson-Madison County General Hospital in Jackson, Tenn., about his proposal to extend health coverage to 200,000 low-income Tennesseans, on Jan. 21, 2015.
Republican Gov. Bill Haslam presides over a meeting at the Jackson-Madison County General Hospital in Jackson, Tenn., about his proposal to extend health coverage to 200,000 low-income Tennesseans, on Jan. 21, 2015.

MURFREESBORO -- Republican Gov. Bill Haslam announced Thursday he now has a GOP state Senate sponsor for his Insure Tennessee proposal after state Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris, R-Collierville, balked at carrying the measure.

Haslam told reporters in Murfreesboro that Sen. Doug Overbey of Collierville will sponsor the resolution, which the GOP-dominated General Assembly will consider in a special session that begins Monday.

The governor's announcement came as he wrapped up a statewide tour in Murfreesboro promoting what he calls his "market-driven" plan to extend health insurance coverage to 280,000 low-income Tennesseans. In its first full year, the program would rely on $1.4 billion in federal Medicaid dollars.

Norris' refusal underscores the challenges Haslam has in persuading a number of fellow Republicans to accept a plan that relies on funding from Democratic President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act or really anything to do with the law, known as Obamacare.

State House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, has already agreed to carry the resolution, which empowers Haslam to pursue a waiver of federal Medicaid rules and implement a plan he says will instill personal responsibility among new enrollees and begin to control spiraling charges for care by hospitals and other providers.

Haslam spent his last day on the tour, which began last week, meeting with lawmakers in Johnson City, Sparta and finally Murfreesboro, where a doubtful group of Republicans raised a number of questions on costs, the federal debt and the voluntary financial assessment on hospitals that would ultimately fund the state's share of costs.

Meanwhile, the Coalition for a Healthy Tennessee, an organization comprised of dozens of businesses and other groups supporting Haslam's proposal, released a statewide list of more than 100 Republicans backing Haslam's plan.

Local supporters on the group's list include Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond, former county GOP chairwoman Connie Weathers, current party treasurer George Jackson and current Nightside Pachyderm Club chairman John Shackleford.

Also on the list are former Chattanooga councilwoman Marti Rutherford and local activists Mills Waterhouse and Kurt Faires; Republican Executive Committee members Bill and June Landrum of Monroe County; Monroe GOP Chairman Lowell Russell; and former Coffee County GOP chairman John Roberts.

"We support Governor Haslam's Insure Tennessee plan and will stand with Republican legislators who vote for it," Kurt Holbert, GOP state executive committeeman for District 26 and Decatur County Republican Party chairman, said in a news release.

Contact staff writer Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or615-255-0550.

Upcoming Events