HEALTHCARE
Our mission is to ensure all Tennesseans have access to equitable healthcare. We aim to educate and inform people about the public benefits programs through outreach materials, webinars, and our collaborative partner network. We also help with direct client services, where we identify program barriers so that we can ultimately advocate for solutions.
PUBLIC BENEFITS PROGRAMS THAT TJC FOCUSES ON
NEED OUR HELP?
We help with some public benefits enrollment or appeals issues with programs like TennCare, CoverKids and SNAP.
Call us at 615-255-0331 or at 1-877-608-1009 toll free.
You can also
*Make sure you provide us with some way to contact you. After you contact us, someone from Tennessee Justice Center should reach out to you soon. They will ask more questions to see if we can help.
We also have a directory of resources with information about who can get help with public programs, food assistance, and more.
PROGRAMS WE HELP WITH
TENNCARE
Tennessee’s Medicaid program, called TennCare, is a federal-state partnership that provides health insurance to many children, low-income pregnant women, and individuals who are elderly or have disabilities.
If you need application assistance for TennCare, CoverKids, Medicaid Savings Program (MSP), or other TennCare Programs, please visit our Need Our Help page HERE.
EXPAND MEDICAID
Medicaid expansion was designed to extend Medicaid benefits to groups who previously did not qualify for the program. Under the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, individuals and families with incomes at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty line ($17,609/year for a single person) would be eligible. A 2012 Supreme Court decision ruled that the option to expand would be given to states rather than being implemented nationwide, as it was originally intended. This ruling has put Tennessee lawmakers in charge of Medicaid expansion for almost a decade, and they have not opted to expand yet.
Tennessee is winning the race to the bottom in terms of health. We are first in the nation for hospital closures per capita, in the bottom ten states for maternal and infant health, and we have some of the highest increases in uninsured residents, even before the pandemic. Medicaid expansion could help turn the tides on Tennessee’s poor health rankings by increasing healthcare coverage gains and improving long-term health outcomes.
OVER 300,000 UNINSURED
In Tennessee, over 300,000 people are uninsured with no access to healthcare, and that number is growing by the day. Medicaid provides quality health insurance to individuals and families who would likely fall into this 300,000 person-wide gap in healthcare coverage. That’s 300,000 more people who won’t have to choose between next month’s rent and their kid’s medicine. That’s over 300,000 more people who can make Tennessee’s workforce stronger and healthier than it was before. That’s over 300,000 more people who could afford access to care and treatment when they’re sick. Closing the gap is key to reducing health disparities across groups.
$$ *Rolling clock here* LOST
Tennessee loses money every day that we don't expand Medicaid!
Right now, there are 1.4 billion dollars of federal tax dollars per year in Washington waiting for us to use in our state. Thanks to the American Rescue Plan’s incentive, our state could also receive an additional $900 million over two years ($1.2 million per day) over and above the cost of expanding coverage. Medicaid expansion would yield a net gain in our state’s economy by supporting 15,000 new jobs and making Tennesseans healthier on average. Thriving hospital systems provide jobs for more healthcare professionals. Healthy workers keep businesses running smoothly. Medicaid expansion is just good business.
Medicaid Expansion Works!
Medicaid expansion is effective. Over 600 studies since 2014 detail the substantial positive effects of Medicaid expansion on states who have chosen to adopt it. These studies reiterated that expansion greatly increased healthcare coverage throughout the states, reduced uncompensated care costs for hospitals, boosted access to care and better long-term health outcomes. The most recent review also showed a positive correlation between expansion and improvements in mortality rates; coverage rates for people with cancer, chronic illnesses, and disabilities; and access to care for people with substance use disorder and mental illnesses.
The block grant was a political gimmick, not a serious answer to Tennesseans’ real health concerns. The block grant proposal created incentives to cut TennCare and use the resulting “savings” for other parts of the state budget. The block grant encouraged the state to generate massive savings.
The touted “savings” weren’t guaranteed. The shared savings of the block grant depended on the state meeting 10 quality metrics that had been approved. No one has been able to beat medical inflation trends, and TennCare was already starting from a very low base of per enrollee spending (the base CMS approved is much lower than what Tennessee submitted), so savings were contingent on drastic cuts. Compare this to the guaranteed $1.4 billion every year that our state could unlock if we accepted federal dollars to provide coverage to 300,000 more Tennesseans. Expanding Medicaid would provide a lot more money and it’s a tried-and-true program, compared to the block grant.
The block grant scheme, called the “TennCare III Waiver,” was the first such deal ever approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS never accepted public comments, as required by law, and instead locked in the state’s plan for ten years.
The TennCare III Waiver makes no mention of the pandemic or rural health and hospital closures. TN’s urgent healthcare needs deserve serious attention and real action from political leaders:
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The state’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic led to one of the worst outbreaks in the world;
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TN is losing rural hospitals at a faster rate than any other state;
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TN’s loss of health coverage for kids is among the worst in the nation;
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Hundreds with addiction die because they are uninsured and cannot afford treatment;
The block grant allowed the state to arbitrarily deny access to some prescription drugs for serious and costly illnesses, like cancer and hepatitis. That scheme gave the state less oversight and accountability over billions of taxpayer dollars.
The block grant created a precedent that, if allowed to stand, will harm Tennesseans and undermine Medicaid across the country.
The block grant left money on the table that could be used to really improve our healthcare system. Former Republican Gov. Bill Haslam proposed his Insure Tennessee plan but was blocked by the legislature. Such a plan would bring in $1.4 billion/year of new federal funds to address health priorities and give 300,000 Tennesseans the health coverage they need. And Congress has offered Tennessee another $900 million if it expands. If state officials are serious about improving health care, they should abandon TennCare III and adopt Gov. Haslam’s plan that puts our federal tax dollars to work helping Tennesseans.
TENNCARE LTSS
COVERKIDS
UPDATE
ADVOCACY GROUP
UPDATE
MEDICARE SAVINGS PROGRAM
UPDATE
OUR PARTNERS
UPDATE
NEED OUR HELP?
We help with some public benefits enrollment or appeals issues with programs like TennCare, CoverKids and SNAP.
Call us at 615-255-0331 or at 1-877-608-1009 toll free.
You can also
*We may not be able to help you. Make sure you provide us with some way to contact you. After you contact us, someone from Tennessee Justice Center should reach out to you soon. They will ask more questions to see if we can help.
We also have a directory of resources with information about who can get help with public programs, food assistance, and more.