Lawmakers see test in TennCare cost

By Daniel Connolly, The Commercial Appeal
October 20, 2006

Two state legislators from Memphis are predicting a struggle to fund TennCare when the General Assembly goes back into session in January.

"TennCare's not going away," Sen. Mark Norris, R-Collierville, said Thursday. "We're going to have to continue to wrestle it."

Last year, Gov. Phil Bredesen cut an estimated 191,000 people from the rolls of TennCare, a health insurance program that uses state and federal funds to care for the poor and uninsured.

The move saved money and impressed agencies that rate the state's debt.

However, the cuts only bought time, and TennCare costs have continued to increase, Norris said. The state must also pay for the yet-to-launch Cover Tennessee insurance program, which is meant to pick up some of those who lost TennCare coverage, he said.

In interviews following luncheon speeches before the Mid-South Medical Group Management Association, Norris and state Rep. John DeBerry, D-Memphis, said they are committed to funding TennCare.

"Nobody wants to see critically ill people with no options," DeBerry said. He said the current state budget surplus could help fund the program.

But the legislators said they wanted to see changes.

Both said they are in favor of new laws to limit jury awards in medical malpractice cases, a concept that has failed several times in the legislature already.

DeBerry said he'd like to see less waste in the health care system and a greater emphasis on prevention. He said medical professionals must ensure that the public has faith that health care will be available when they need it.

Norris said he'd like to examine whether the state still needs restrictions on the number and type of health services available in a given area.

"Do you really need that mechanism in place to tell a hospital if they can expand or not?" he asked.

Next year, though, medical malpractice law and TennCare will be front and center, he said.

He said the legislature must try to rein in TennCare costs without abandoning the people the program was meant to help.