New Waiver Gives TennCare Opportunity To Control Health Care Costs by ‘Improving’ Lifestyles, Columnist Says
TennCare, Tennessee's Medicaid managed care program, should focus on improving the unhealthy lifestyles of some beneficiaries -- the "root of the [state's] health care problem," Chattanooga Times & Free Press Executive Editor Tom Griscom writes in an opinion piece. Given that the program's recently approved federal waiver ensures that $16.5 billion in federal funds will be available for TennCare's Medicaid-eligible population over the next five years, the state "appears to be in a more stable financial position" than before. This "new solvency" provides the program an opportunity to "attack a disease or two a year," a plan recently promoted by Gov. Don Sundquist (R). Citing a report by HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration, Griscom notes that 83.4% of the state residents do not exercise, 32.4% are obese, 70.3% eat "too few fruits and vegetables," 27.8% have high blood pressure and 26% smoke -- all risk factors that contribute to premature death. The new waiver gives TennCare the chance to "encourag[e] healthy people in healthy communities," Griscom says. He concludes that promoting healthy lifestyles "may not be as easy" as blaming the program for the state's increasing health costs, but "it might be more effective" (Griscom, Chattanooga Times & Free Press, 6/16).
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