Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Mental illness may get increased funding
A Republican-dominated task force that is examining ways to expand health care in Tennessee may be favoring a phased-in approach that would initially cover only a small percentage of the state's uninsured who suffer from mental illness, but with the option it could be expanded in the future. The panel spent two hours Tuesday debating what to do about health care in the state. The legislature has refused to expand healthcare coverage to the working poor in the state proposed by Governor Bill haslam. And as a result the state is loosing out on millions in federal healthcare funding every year. The task force was set up in an effort to find alternatives to the Insure Tennessee Medicaid expansion, which lawmakers have voted down twice. Because most of its members are conservative GOP lawmakers, the recommendations from the task force may be accepted by those who have opposed Medicaid expansion. TennCare currently is limited to the elderly, disabled, and children and their parents, with an income of less than $26,100 for a family of four. Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, another large group buys insurance from a health care exchange, with most purchasers getting a subsidy to help pay for the cost, based on their income. But that leaves a significant percentage of Tennesseans with no coverage, including poor people without children and those who earn too little to qualify for subsidies. Estimates range from 300,000 to 450,000 Tennesseans who are uninsured. they create a hardship for hospitals and other medical providers.


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