Governor Phil Bredesen said today/yesterday the state of Tennessee and the federal government are close to an agreement over the state’s Medicaid program. Bredesen made his comments while he was in Washington D.C. speaking to a group of business leaders.
TennCare operates under a waiver from traditional Medicaid programs, and that waiver expired in July. Since then, the two sides have been feuding over a proposed cap on the amount of money the federal government pays for hospital losses.
Hospitals lose money on caring for both individuals with no ability to pay, and on Medicaid patients, since the federal health insurance program for the poor reimburses hospitals for less than they spend.
TennCare spokeswoman Marilyn Wilson says the cap would have cost the state several hundred million dollars.
“We were projecting losses upward of 386-million dollars over the next three years, losses of projected revenue. And since then, our negotiations have brought us closer together. We are in a position to not lose as much revenue as originally anticipated.”
Wilson says the federal government’s finance department, the Office of Budget and Management, is reviewing the agreement. The latest waiver extension, the fifth one, expires September 30th.
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