Tennessee Files Motion to Block ‘Special Master’ for TennCare Program

Attorneys for the state of Tennessee on Oct. 30 filed a motion with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio, to block the appointment of a "special master" to supervise enrollment for TennCare, the state's Medicaid managed care program, the Nashville Tennessean reports (Snyder, Nashville Tennessean, 11/1). On Oct. 26, U.S. District Judge William Haynes blocked a plan proposed by Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist (R) to close enrollment in TennCare to uninsurable adults and ordered the appointment of a special master to ensure that the state removes ineligible members from the program. Sundquist had moved to close TennCare to uninsurable adults -- beneficiaries who are not otherwise categorically eligible for Medicaid but cannot obtain private health coverage as a result of pre-existing medical conditions -- on Oct. 1 to help "stem the growth" in the program's enrollment, which is nearing the 1.5 million cap set by the state's Medicaid waiver. However, in a 57-page opinion, Haynes ruled that the state "couldn't unilaterally shut off" TennCare enrollment to uninsurable adults. He said that the move would "violate a previous court settlement." Haynes ruled that a special master must oversee the state's reverification process and that the state must remove as many as 15,000 ineligible members from the program "to make room" for new members "as soon as possible" (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/29). In the motion, however, the state's lawyers argued that the special master appointment "is likely to generate confusion, uncertainty and disruption" and cause "unnecessary destabilization" of the program (Nashville Tennessean, 11/1). For further information on state health policy in Tennessee, visit State Health Facts Online.