CoverTN will Suspend Enrollment in January

The state’s health care plan for small businesses is near capacity. But the number of people covered by CoverTN is far below what officials once hoped for.

CoverTN works with businesses that have fifty or fewer employees, and people who are self-employed. The state pays one-third of the cost for bare-bones health insurance.

There are enough state funds to cover 23-thousand people. Right now, the rolls are about 800 away from that limit. At the start of the new year, there will be a hold on accepting new members.

Spokesman Joe Burchfield says that means businesses that are interested but not already in the program will have to act before January-or wait.

“There’s of course natural attrition in the program as people find other coverage options, so as that happens, we’ll keep an eye on the budget and as we get to a certain point where can add people, add a sufficient number of people, we would reopen and bring more in.”

When Governor Phil Bredesen unveiled his plans for CoverTN in 2006, he suggested it might enroll as many as 150-thousand people in the first five years.

A year later, with only 13-thousand signed up, the plan was expanded. Instead of being limited to businesses with 25 or fewer workers, it was opened to those with as many as 50 people on the payroll. Officials said they were shooting for 100-thousand enrollees by 2010.

That was before the economy tanked. Now spokesman Joe Burchfield says CoverTN enrollment has to be limited at a much lower number.

“We started fully funded and not long after that we started going through the budget reduction process as the result of declining state revenues. With our current appropriation, which is $20-million, 23,000 is sort of the magic number that can be supported.”

There are two steps to joining the plan: businesses first prequalify with the state, then formally sign on with Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Those who already pre-qualified for CoverTN need to finish the enrollment process by the end of December, even if they were initially given longer.

The enrollment suspension does not apply to businesses that are already on CoverTN. If they hire new workers, those employees can be added.