Insure Tennessee

• Insure Tennessee proposal• Hospital role in funding• Who benefits• Outreach plans

Overview

• Alternative Medicaid expansion approach focused on:– Personal responsibility– Cost– Healthcare reform

• Provide health insurance coverage to more than 200,000 uninsured Tennesseans who earn less than 138 percent FPL

• Creates no new taxes thanks to commitment from Tennessee’s hospitals

Insure Tennessee Proposal

• Insure Tennessee is the next step in Tennessee’s Delivery System Reform Initiative, which launched in 2013

• The main focus of the initiative to date has been on aligning incentives at the provider level through payment reform

• Insure Tennessee is designed to align incentives at the consumer level by promoting personal responsibility

Insure Tennessee Proposal

Insure Tennessee Proposal

• Insure Tennessee will leverage the enhanced federal funding which will pay for between 90 and 100 percent of the cost.

• Once the federal match decreases below 100 percent in 2017, Tennessee hospitals have committed to covering the state’s portion of the cost.

• The program will automatically terminate in the event that either federal funding or support from the hospitals is modified in any way.

Insure Tennessee Proposal

• The plan must be approved by the Tennessee General Assembly and receive formal approval from federal officials at CMS before implementation.

• Governor Bill Haslam has called a special legislative session to address the proposal.– Begins Monday, Feb. 2– Expected to last one to two weeks

Insure Tennessee Proposal

• THA’s board of directors unanimously voted to cover the state’s portion of the cost for Insure Tennessee.

• Funding will be provided through the annual hospital assessment.

• Latitude in the assessment will cover any additional cost to the state beginning in 2017

The Role of Hospitals

• More than 400,000 uninsured Tennesseans below 138 percent FPL could qualify for coverage.

• Approximately 25,000 of these individuals are veterans.

• More than half of the eligible population is employed.

• Insure Tennessee will bring needed coverage to hard-working individuals.

Who Benefits?

• Legislators must hear from constituents– Hospital leaders– Trustees– Business leaders– Community leaders

• The ask of legislators is simple:– Please support the governor’s Insure Tennessee plan. – If they cannot yet pledge to support the plan, ask

them to hold off making any commitment until they learn more about Insure Tennessee.

THA Outreach

• Resources to support outreach at THA.com– Discussion points– Health and economic impact handouts

• Statewide• Urban and rural comparison• County-specific

– Details about the hospital assessment• Materials from Coalition for a Healthy Tennessee

– www.insuretennesseenow.com

THA Outreach

• Legislative Day on the Hill– Tuesday, Feb. 3– Briefings at Polk Theater in Tennessee

Performing Arts Center• 9:30 a.m. CT• 11:30 a.m. CT

– Boxed lunches available from noon to 1 p.m.– Primary focus is to meet with legislators

and/or attend committee hearings

THA Outreach

• Contact THA– Craig Becker, cbecker@tha.com – Beth Berry, bberry@tha.com– Joe Burchfield, jburchfield@tha.com

More Information