Bonnyman: Congress is TennCare's best hope
By ANITA WADHWANI
Staff Writer



But bailout bid may run afoul of federal plan to cut Medicaid

One of the last hopes to spare 323,000 Tennesseans the loss of their health insurance lies with a federal bailout, the chief lawyer for TennCare enrollees said yesterday.

And that's an avenue he said he'll aggressively try to persuade legislators to pursue.

Gordon Bonnyman's comments came in the same week that federal officials singled out Tennessee as one of 15 states that may soon see certain parts of its Medicaid funding eliminated, and at a time when federal officials say they generally plan to curb Medicaid funding rather than expand it.

But, a day after a federal appeals court cleared the way for Gov. Phil Bredesen's plan to make drastic cuts to TennCare, Bonnyman suggested that Tennessee should follow the example of other states that have succeeded recently, despite the odds, in landing federal dollars to keep Medicaid programs afloat.

''It's still the case that, with the right leadership sounding the right message with a concerned congressional delegation, it's still possible to get federal aid,'' Bonnyman said. ''We have a legitimate and compelling case for enlisting the federal government now as part of the solution.''

But Bredesen has scoffed at the idea of seeking federal funds, citing the announcement earlier this week that the federal government is rethinking whether TennCare should continue to get certain kinds of federal funds.

''If there's anybody out there who still thinks that, somehow, the answer to our TennCare problems is somehow going and getting some more federal money, this ought to put a final nail in that coffin,'' Bredesen said, at a time when ''they're trying to figure out how to retrieve several hundred million dollars from us.''

In February, U.S. Sens. Bill Frist and Lamar Alexander said that the prospects of federal aid for TennCare are slim and that solution for TennCare resides in Tennessee, not in Washington. Alexander said he doubted the Tennessee congressional delegation would get involved in the TennCare battle.

Tuesday, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ended a court-ordered halt to TennCare cuts, and state officials say they can move forward with the removal of adults from the program within weeks.

Bonnyman opposes the cuts, but he has said he will not appeal the higher court's ruling.

Instead, Bonnyman will take his case to the legislature and to the public, he said yesterday. As the reality of poor and sick people losing their health-care coverage comes to light, he believes that public concern and legislative pressure could prompt the state's congressional delegation to get involved in seeking federal aid.

The federal government may be more sympathetic to Tennessee's situation because it eliminated millions in federal aid during the administration of former Gov. Don Sundquist, Bonnyman said.

Other states have successfully made that case, he said.

Like TennCare, other states' Medicaid programs rely on combined federal and state dollars to provide insurance to the poor, elderly and people who have disabilities or are otherwise uninsured.

Bonnyman cited New York's announcement last month that it had received the pledge of $1.5 billion in federal money for its Medicaid program. Louisiana got permission for another $774 million in federal money last year, and Alabama has been negotiating to keep $1 billion for its Medicaid program that the federal government had originally asked it to repay.

''We're getting to the point where we can't be too proud,'' Bonnyman said. The goal should be to ''try and minimize the tragedy.''

However, Lydia Lenker, Bredesen's press secretary, said other states' receipt of federal money can't be directly compared to Tennessee.

''Generally speaking, these are negotiated settlements with the federal government to phase out existing funding mechanisms. We have a great working relationship with our congressional delegation, but they know it's unrealistic to think the state will get special treatment.''

Meanwhile, enrollee advocates in addition to Bonnyman are preparing to continue to fight the cuts by enlisting legislators' aid.

Lawmakers must approve the state budget for next fiscal year, including TennCare, before July 1.

Advocate Brian McGuire of the senior group AARP Tennessee says he is optimistic legislators will help avert some of the cuts. He said legislators have indicated to him that they want to help the 38,000 seniors who rely on TennCare mainly for prescription drugs to remain on the program until a federal Medicare drug program becomes available in January.

Sita Diehl, an advocate for those with mental illnesses who heads NAMI Tennessee, said her group is preparing for TennCare cuts, but she will also be urging members to contact legislators.


Anita Wadhwani can be reached at 259-8821 or awadhwani@tennessean.com.

http://tennessean.com/government/tenncare/...ent_ID=68218407

Protesters Toll Bells Across Tennessee Over Health Care Cuts
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
August 1, 2005

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE -- On Monday, about 97,000 people who were receiving TennCare lost their drug coverage, while another 400,000 faced a limit on their drug benefits. The state also stands ready to cut as many as 290,000 additional TennCare recipients from the Medicaid portion of the health care program.

"This is the single largest cutback of public health care, not just in the state, but in the history of this country," said Tony Garr, executive director of the Tennessee Health Care Campaign, during a July 28 press conference.

Civil, senior and disability rights advocates have been holed up inside the State Capitol building, and just outside Governor Phil Bredesen's office since June 20, demanding he meet with them publicly and restore cuts he has made to TennCare. Bredesen has eliminated much of Tennessee's contribution to the federal-state funded Medicaid health-care program, leading to the end of health care for hundreds of thousands of low-income citizens, many of whom have disabilities.

On July 28, protesters set up a church bell in Nashville's Legislative Plaza and started tolling it every 4 seconds -- each toll signifying 10 people who are losing some or all of their health care benefits -- through Sunday night. Organizers arranged for bells to be tolled in every county across Tennessee.

The demonstrators hope that their efforts will force lawmakers to arrange a special session to address the health care problem.

"The pressure is working," said protester Pam Beziat. "I think the governor is caught in a hard place."


In the meantime, the protesters have not been allowed to have food or water delivered to them inside the Capitol building, following a two-week-old rule by the State Capitol Commission.

Bredesen likely to ignore people’s call for additional analysis of healthcare
(NASHVILLE, August 8, 2005) Three members of the Tennessee General Assembly have written Governor Bredesen asking for TennCare to be a topic in the upcoming Special Session. Senator Doug Jackson, of Dickson, Representative David Shepard, also of Dickson and Representative John Tidwell, from New Johnsonville, have asked for TennCare to be an issue for a special session, or added to the agenda of an upcoming session on ethics.

“We support the call for a special session to deal with TennCare,” said Stan Davidson from the sit-in at Governor Bredesen’s office, “our intension is to stay until the [TennCare] cuts are repaired and all the people reinstated.”

For fifty days activists have held a sit-in at Governor Bredesen’s office because the governor has failed to meet publicly over cost-saving options and to stop the disenrollment of people from TennCare. The demonstration has also become a focus of the resentment of citizens’ for the governor breaking his promises about TennCare and failure of Bredesen’s “safety net” plan.

"The fact of the matter is that we are not going away until they reform TennCare in such a way that people's lives are not at risk," said Tony Garr of the Tennessee Health Care Campaign. "This is not a Democratic issue or a Republican issue; this is truly a moral issue."

Bredesen, a Democrat, rejected cost-saving proposals of Republicans and Democrats to embark on his own Medicaid plan that ended healthcare coverage to nearly two hundred thousand people. He has not responded to cost-saving proposals of Tennessee ADAPT or the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Tennesseans familiar with Bredesen say that he is likely to ignore the letter asking for a TennCare Legislative Session. They say he has a strategy of overlooking possible solutions in order to cement his long-range plan to return to Medicaid.


The governor’s statements that he has attempted to keep his promise to fix TennCare and that he has done the best with the hand he was dealt seem disingenuous. In fact, an internal memo titled, "Back to Medicaid Kickoff" verifies that Bredesen has a plan in place to disregard options to save TennCare. Dated November 22, 2004 the document reads, "Prevent alternative proposals (e.g., savings, revenue generation, enrollment)."

“Everything he [Bredesen] said, that he attempted to fix TennCare, that he wanted suggestions to save TennCare, were just bold-faced lies,” said Michael Heinrich locked inside the capitol this weekend. “He already had mechanisms in place to resist reform and oppose solutions.”

To follow the protest and the results visit The Memphis Center for Independent Living Journal