REALITY BITES IN TENNESSEE

And legal vultures led by the vastly misnamed Bonnyman helped push the system over

Gov. Phil Bredesen announced Monday that he will drop 323,000 adults from the state's expanded Medicaid program to save about $1.7 billion a year, but will preserve health coverage for children. The announcement capped weeks of negotiations between Bredesen and health care advocates in an effort to save a Tennessee program that offers coverage to the working poor who make too much money to qualify for regular Medicaid. Advocates said the cuts would be devastating and pleaded with the governor to reconsider the move.

The governor's plan ends coverage for adults who make more than the Medicaid cutoff, but retains it for more than 100,000 children whose families fall in that range. "I say to you with a clear heart that I've tried everything," the Democratic governor said. "There is no big lump of federal money that will make the problem go away. It is just not there." The governor has said court settlements that forced Tennessee to raise the level of coverage it provided meant it could not afford to continue with the expanded program.

Bredesen had announced in November that he intended to return to basic Medicaid, ending coverage for all 430,000 adults and children, because of mushrooming costs. He agreed to negotiations with lawyers for the working poor, but said Monday that the advocates were "living in a fairyland" and would not work to find realistic solutions. "I feel like I can hold my head up as we move through the unpleasant changes we have to make," he said.

Gordon Bonnyman, the chief legal advocate in the case against the state, hoped the governor would change his mind. "Cuts of that size are unprecedented and unthinkable," he said.

Source

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation.

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