Only some of those disenrolled from TennCare last year will be eligible for the state’s new high-risk insurance pool, at least until the program gets on its feet. So said the AccessTN board at its first meeting today.
Created as part of Governor Phil Bredesen’s Cover Tennessee health care legislation, Access-Tennessee will provide coverage to those who can’t afford or can’t get health insurance because of serious medical conditions.
Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz says he’s worried that if too many people are eligible at first, the private plans will dump their enrollees onto the state plan.
“I don’t want to try and take a drink from a fire hose and get overwhelmed with this plan. We have limited funding, we have limited capacity to manage and frankly we have an obligation to those disenrolled from TennCare to offer them entrance into this plan.”
The state is likely to offer two types of coverage, one similar to the state employee health insurance plan. The other will be a high deductible plan with a health savings account.
The board hopes to issue the request for proposal to administer the program before its next meeting in late September.
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