Saturday, January 16, 2021

Families USA critical of Tenncare block grant
In 2019, Tennessee released a proposal to block grant its Medicaid program. On Friday the Tennessee House approved the legislation. But Families USA, a national healthcare watchdog group, says the result will result in serious harm to women, children, and elderly Tennesseans. "The proposal itself will hurt Tennessee families in the midst of a historic health and economic crisis--so state and federal officials snuck this approval in during the final days of a lame duck administration," the group argues. FamiliesUSA says the move will force the state to either decrease spending, make cuts, or use its own funds to make up the difference—even as demand for the program grows. "This means serving fewer people and offering fewer services, the last thing families struggling during COVID-19 need. States like Tennessee receiving greater “flexibility” in exchange for accepting less federal money means the primary “flexibility” desired is the authority to roll back access to care without federal oversight." “It is so deeply disappointing to watch Governor Lee put politics in front of the needs of Tennessee families. He is placing at risk hundreds of millions of dollars to support Tennessee health care by agreeing to this terrible block grant proposal," says Executive Director Frederick Isasi. "Instead, Governor Lee should be expanding Medicaid to improve health care for families across the state." A better move he argues would be for the state to accept enhanced 90% federal funding to expand Medicaid to 391,000 individuals in Tennessee. The program likely will not be in effect long however because President-Elect Joe Biden plans to expand Medicaid coverage nationwide.


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Thursday, April 29, 2021

  • US 411 Project News
  • Mill Creek Wildfire Update
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    Wednesday, April 28, 2021

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    Tuesday, April 27, 2021

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