EDITORIAL: TennCare application process needs a fix
By The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Instead, from his defiant comments, it looks like TennCare director
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in
TennCare is
TennCare has been a hot issue in <location value="LS/us.tn" idsrc="xmltag.org">Tennessee because of Haslam's refusal to expand the program under provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.
The governor last year declined to accept
An expansion would provide health insurance to most of the 340,000 Tennesseans who do not have health insurance, with the federal government picking up 100 percent of the cost for the first three years and 90 percent after that.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday has nothing to do with expanding the program, but asks for easier access for those who may qualify for TennCare. The main complaint boils down to this:
New state policies mean that people wanting to apply for TennCare can only do so through HealthCare.gov, the federal government's application site to enroll in Obamacare.
The complainants maintain HealthCare.gov is not intended or designed to handle the wide array of TennCare applicants.
That has caused monthslong delays in receiving coverage for many TennCare applicants, including pregnant women, mothers trying to get coverage for their children and senior citizens trying to access special state programs.
Gordon blames the problem on the Obamacare website.
A new state
This is a lawsuit that did not have to happen.
We have used this space to urge the governor to expand TennCare under the ACA. Thirty-four
Regarding the access issue, it seems like TennCare officials would have been amenable to working with the legal advocates to see if the application glitches could be worked out.
That certainly would be better than circling the wagons and fighting this out in a courtroom.
The governor's administration should have learned the pitfalls of that approach when former Tennessee Department of Children's Services commissioner
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