Tennessee Health Care Campaign

More than 140,000 additional Tennesseans will lose their TennCare this year. State legislators will be going home on Tuesday for the year.

Please call your state legislators again and send an email. You have one state representative and one state senator. Your state legislators must hear from you on Sunday and Monday (May 18 and 19). Leave a message if necessary but, please call. This is our last opportunity to get a safety net.

Tell your legislators to speak out against cutting off people with life threatening medical conditions without providing a safety-net. Legislators must find a better way to make cuts without putting people's lives at risk.

Ask your state legislators to ask members of the House and Senate Finance Committees to support House Appropriation Amendments #10 & 11 and Senate Appropriation Amendments #114 & 115.

To find out who your state legislators are, scroll down to the bottom of the page or go to: http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/

May 12, 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel reported that as few as 5,000 enrollees on TennCare Spend Down could remain on the program before it reopens in the fall of 2008 with a cap of only 20,000 enrollees, which will cut enrollment by 80,000 people.

On April 30, 2005, Governor Bredesen froze enrollment for the Medically Needy (Spend Down) at 97,000 adults and promised that enrollment would be opened again with new eligibility rules and capped at 100,000 people.

October, 2007, Governor announced that enrollment would be reopened in 2008 after re-verification was completed.

February, 2008, re-verification for 50,000 Spend Down enrollees began.

May 12, 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel reported that as a result of the re-verification process as few as 5,000 of 50,000 enrollees on TennCare Spend Down could remain on the program.

October 1, 2008, enrollment will be capped at 20,000 enrollees, effectively cutting 80,000 people from TennCare.

In addition, more than 100,000+ SSI/Daniels TennCare enrollees will likely lose coverage this year. Between Spend Down and SSI/Daniels, over 140,000 people will be terminated this year.

In 2005 when 170,000 people were terminated, a safety-net was established to temporarily assist people needing life-threatening treatment. Then,

763 people were receiving oxygen treatment and were cut off TennCare;
137 people were undergoing cancer treatment and were cut;
146 people had an organ transplant and were undergoing anti-rejection drug therapy;
298 people were undergoing dialysis for kidney failure;
17,000 people were seriously and persistently mentally ill; and
Grant money was distributed to clinics and organizations treating people with HIV/AIDS, Hemophilia, etc.