Tennessee to Cut More Than 77,000 TennCare Beneficiaries Following First Reverification Deadline

More than 77,000 people enrolled in TennCare, Tennessee's Medicaid managed care program, will lose coverage under the program because they missed the Oct. 29 deadline to verify their eligibility for coverage, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports (Wade/Downing, Memphis Commercial Appeal, 11/1). The eligibility reverification is part of a waiver approved earlier this year by the federal government that allows the state to restructure eligibility and benefits offered under TennCare. The waiver requires TennCare to reverify all non-Medicaid-eligible beneficiaries' eligibility; about 159,000 current beneficiaries are expected to be found ineligible under the new guidelines, according to state officials. The state has sent out three rounds of letters -- the first was sent in July -- asking beneficiaries to complete the reverification process at their local Department of Health Services office within 90 days (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/23). Two additional batches of letters were mailed in August and September; recipients face deadlines of Nov. 29 and Dec. 29, respectively (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/31). People who missed the Tuesday deadline will receive a cancellation notice in the mail.

Advocates Criticize Process
Legislators and TennCare advocates said eligible people will be dropped from the program because some beneficiaries have been unable to reach their local DHS office to make an appointment for reverification. They asked the state to extend the deadline, but it did not (Memphis Commercial Appeal, 11/1). Deputy Finance Commissioner John Tighe, who heads TennCare, said the state ran advertisements, kept offices open late and installed 244 phone lines to handle the process (Lewis, Tennessean, 11/1). He added that the state hired agencies to locate and help mentally ill enrollees. Tighe said, "[W]e have a mandate to run this program according to the rules ... and according to the budget adopted by the General Assembly." Tighe "praised" DHS and outreach workers for having achieved a 65% response rate from the mailings (Memphis Commercial Appeal, 11/1). He added that Tennessee's next governor, who will assume office in January, will find TennCare in "good financial shape" as a result of the program cuts (Tennessean, 11/1).

Tennessean Recommends Delay
Delaying the termination of TennCare benefits until the state can "assure" that all enrollees have had the chance to "make their case for re-enrollment" is a "reasonable and humane request," according to a Tennessean editorial. Noting that "there is no reason to believe that the paring of the TennCare rolls will be either exact or efficient," the editorial said that "mistakes" in the verification process "could quickly turn deadly." The editorial concludes, "In the long-term, extending the deadline would make far more sense than dropping enrollees without knowing their situation" (Tennessean, 11/1).