| Submit your comments on this article |
| Economy |
| TennCare faces deep budget cuts |
| 2010-02-15 |
| When Tennessee launched its ideal of free health care for needy residents, the worry about how to pay for medical tests, drugs, surgeries or nursing care vanished for many people. The relief didn't last long. Gov. Phil Bredesen, who came into office in 2003 promising to "save" and "not dismantle" TennCare, has managed to keep it alive. But he has moved at least 300,000 people off the program rolls, limited the most expensive home care and made it tougher to get on TennCare in the first place. Still, the program is expected to consume about 24 percent of the state finances under Bredesen's budget proposal next year,a drop from the ballooning 30 percent when he took office, but a long way from the years before TennCare when, state lawmakers remember, they dedicated about 10 percent of the budget to health care. Now Bredesen, in his last year of office, has proposed another round of reductions that have so awakened the medical community that hospitals are suggesting taxing themselves as a political alternative. Bredesen has driven this TennCare road before. When opponents suggested life-and-death consequences and even filed lawsuits against the state over previous changes, he moved forward anyway. His critics say he has run the program too much like a CEO rather than an elected official administering a public health plan. "This governor's approach has been, 'I will make cuts and fix the program later,' " said Tony Garr, executive director of the Tennessee Health Care Campaign, an advocacy group. "He forgets that he is not running a private business." Others say it's easy to second-guess the governor, but if he hadn't pushed forward with changes, TennCare could be absorbing up to 50 percent of all the tax money coming into the state. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #6 That's been the rule for any government-financed Fixed it for you AH. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2010-02-15 14:57 |
| #5 The Bestest and Brightest only underestimated the cost of MediCare by 800%. And they were on America's side. So what could possibly go wrong with CommieCare? |
| Posted by: ed 2010-02-15 13:03 |
| #4 Teen Care went so far as to pay for peoples Gym memberships claiming it was physical therapy. Almost anyone could get Tenn Care at the outset. It didn't work then and it doesn't work now. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2010-02-15 12:15 |
| #3 expensive. Far beyound the initial estimates. That's been the rule for any government-financed health plan, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. OF COURSE the MSM slights that issue, doesn't fit the agenda. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-02-15 10:53 |
| #2 You'ld have thunk if the MSM was doing real journalism they would have checked out the experiment here in TN or in Mass to see how "free" medical actually works. Its been expensive. Far beyound the initial estimates. The previous Repub governer tried to ram an income tax trough in his last year to pay for this. You probably didn't hear about the tax revolt that came to Nashville because of his actions. It shut the city down for a few days and gaurenteed a Democratic victory in the next election. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Tax_Revolt |
| Posted by: BrerRabbit 2010-02-15 06:39 |
| #1 But, but, but if Temmessee can just hold out. Obamacare will cost us nothing! That's right, nothing at all! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-02-15 04:33 |