The bill that would have re-opened a TennCare category for those who can’t get private health insurance plans, failed a senate committee yesterday, dampening its chances in the house, for the second year in a row.
The governor has proposed a high-risk pool as part of his proposed health care initiative, but Republican Diane Black says it will be too expensive for many to afford. She says the safety net and its community health clinics won’t be able to provide adequate care.
“We have got to do something about our public health centers, we just have to. But if you go to the public health center and you’re diagnosed, or you go there because you have chest pain, they can’t take care of giving you all the medications you need, and running EKGs and doing a cardiac catheterization, and what’s someone do that doesn’t have insurance?”
In a similar proposal floated at the end of last session, Black and fellow republican Jim Bryson tried to keep TennCare coverage for the well-over 60-thousand uninsurable individuals on the program, but it too failed.
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