Hospitals Say Blocking TennCare Expansion Would Cost 90,000 Jobs

Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey says after talking to Senator Brian Kelsey, the Germantown Republican has agreed to slow down a bill to bar the state from expanding Medicaid. Photo credit Blake Farmer/WPLN

The state’s hospitals are playing out the “what if’s” as lawmakers consider whether to expand Medicaid as part of the federal health care overhaul. Their study says 90,000 Tennessee jobs could be lost if the expansion does not occur.

Without expanding who is covered by Medicaid – known as TennCare in Tennessee – hospitals say there could be a “recessionary impact.” Hospitals agreed to cuts that total billions of dollars, believing they would see fewer uninsured. But that assumption is in jeopardy.

State Senator Brian Kelsey is trying to prevent the state from expanding Medicaid.

“Look, my job is not to bail out the special interest hospital lobby. My job is to represent Tennessee taxpayers.”

Kelsey defended his position on a panel discussion with the Tennessee Hospital Association and Medicaid advocate Gordon Bonnyman of the Tennessee Justice Center.

Bonnyman often tangles with hospitals, but he’s taking their side.

“I would be the first to say they have been known to cry wolf. The wolf is at the door now. I say that as an amiable adversary of the hospital association.”

Governor Bill Haslam says he plans to make a decision on Medicaid expansion before the legislature wraps up work for the year in the spring.

Republican leaders are pulling rank on Kelsey’s bill that would preempt the governor’s process. His proposal has half the state senate as co-sponsors, but not Speaker Ron Ramsey.

“Let’s put it this way, it was on notice yesterday, and not on notice today that it’s going to be in committee. Because I’ve had some discussions with Brian.”

The federal government would pay all the cost for the first three years. Senator Kelsey says he doesn’t want to pull new people into the program, just to have to cut them loose a few years later. But Gordon Bonnyman of the Tennessee Justice Center says most of the uninsured he works with would welcome even three years of coverage.