TennCare Saves Money While Expanding Coverage, Study Finds
TennCare, Tennessee's Medicaid managed care program, saved the state $40 million this year while covering 600,000 more people than it would have under traditional Medicaid, according to a new report released by the state comptroller's office, the Nashville Tennessean reports. The analysis also found that while the average Medicaid spending per beneficiary in other Southern states was $3,218 in 1999, Tennessee spent $2,611 for each Medicaid beneficiary in TennCare. Tony Garr, executive director of the Tennessee Health Care Campaign, an advocacy group, said that such information is "vital" news for people trying to protect TennCare from the state's "messy tax debate" (de la Cruz, Nashville Tennessean, 8/23). Gov. Don Sundquist (R) has said that in order to "preserve high-quality ... health care programs" such as TennCare, he would support instituting an income tax in Tennessee, which is "struggling" to balance its budget relying mainly on its 6% sales tax. But income tax opponents say that the sales tax alone would be "perfectly adequate" if the state would reduce spending for "social" programs such as TennCare (Firestone, New York Times, 8/23). Calling TennCare "a major source of the state's budget problems" -- a charge that state "budget experts" call "wron[g]" -- TennCare critics are putting Sundquist "under pressure" to "fix" the program (Wade, Memphis Commercial Appeal, 8/23). For further information on state health policy in Tennessee, visit State Health Facts Online.
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