Sebelius Says Many Thousands Will Go Uninsured Unless Tennessee Expands Medicaid

Kathleen Sebelius visited a health clinic in Madison on Thursday to make a pitch for the Affordable Care Act. Bobby Allyn/WPLN

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius visited Nashville on Thursday and warned that not expanding Medicaid in Tennessee could leave thousands uninsured.

Tennessee is among the states that have not decided whether to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act.

Sebelius said not expanding the program for low-income Tennesseans would create a significant gulf in coverage.

“So there’s still a big gap,” Sebelius said. “In Tennessee, it could leave half-a-million people still without affordable options,” citing a figure more than three times higher than the one often used by state officials.

Sebelius, who stood next to Mayor Karl Dean during her short talk, said there is a cost of doing nothing, and it will take a toll on the uninsured seeking care and on the state’s hospitals.

She noted that around 16 percent of state residents are eligible for insurance through the exchanges but are still uninsured. In addition, Tennessee is missing out on $6.2 million a day in federal support by resisting the Medicaid expansion, Sebelius said.

Amy Speace, a 40-something singer-songwriter, took to the podium to share her story of finding inexpensive coverage through the exchanges.

As someone who was once buried under a mountain of medical debt, she had been somewhat disheartened with the health care system. Yet through the exchanges, she said she found a subsidized plan for $30 a month — and she’s been telling all her uninsured musician friends to do the same.

Planners of the president’s health care law were counting on states expanding Medicare as part of the act. About half of the states have agreed to expand Medicaid. For those states that haven’t yet, federal health officials are now making a last-ditch pitch.

Gov. Bill Haslam, who did not meet with Sebelius on her Nashville stop, said he wants instead to adopt a plan that keeps the state’s dollars safe.

Also today: the state Senate passed a bill that would require the governor to get permission from the legislature before a Medicaid deal moves forward.