Report: Uninsured Tennesseans would drop 27% with Medicaid expansion [Chattanooga Times Free Press, Tenn.]

Oct. 23—An estimated 151,000 Tennesseans would gain health insurance coverage — reducing the state's uninsured population by 27% — if Tennessee followed in the footsteps of 40 other states and Washington, D.C., by expanding Medicaid, according to a report released Monday.

Tennessee's Medicaid program, TennCare, covers mostly low-income pregnant and postpartum women, parents or caretakers of a minor, children and certain older adults and people with disabilities. Medicaid expansion would open TennCare eligibility to nearly all adults under 65 years old whose household income is up to 138% of the federal poverty level, which for an individual amounts to $20,120 annually in 2023.

Tennessee is among 10 states — including Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming — that have not elected to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act — an option that first became available in 2014.

The uninsured population in those 10 states would drop by 25% — or 2.3

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