Home > TennCare > Opposition

Opposition to the Cuts to TennCare

Rev. Dr. James Lawson Photo by Joon Powell, www.joonpowell.info

The cuts to TennCare mean over 200,000 people have lost access to health care and the remaining 396,000 adults on TennCare are subject to arbitrary limits in prescriptions and services – a “despicable act,” as stated by Rev. Victor Singletary, pastor of First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill in Nashville (Tennessean, “Protests resume against proposed TennCare cuts,” December 16, 2004).  Children, too, are at risk of losing essential health care because of the cuts.  Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund, states, “One of the greatest threats to Medicaid and child health coverage is underway right here in Tennessee where Gov. Bredesen is eliminating health care for 323,000 adults.  While he alleges he is protecting child health coverage and benefits for the over 600,000 children on TennCare, in fact, he is eroding both and setting into motion the unraveling of Medicaid's crucial federal child health protections the 23 million children rely on” (Tennessean, “About children, she is loud and clear in debate over TennCare”, January 30, 2005). The people and groups raising their voices against the cuts to TennCare are numerous and varied.  Amidst the untold suffering and anguish, hope is represented by these individuals and groups speaking the truth and holding our government accountable.

AARP addresses the media at a press conference

Soon after the cuts to TennCare began in the summer of 2005, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert wrote, “What is happening in Tennessee is profoundly cruel”, noting that the people losing TennCare are mostly working poor, some with serious illnesses, with no way to afford private insurance.  Mr. Herbert notes Bill Frist’s (later to become Senate Majority Leader Frist) reaction to the creation of TennCare in the 1990’s:  “the extension of coverage to the working Tennesseans without health insurance is necessary to reduce the need for hospitals to shift these costs to patients who have insurance.” Herbert is critical of Gov. Bredesen for failing to “do the heavy lifting necessary to shore up an important and admirable program,” by instead “resorting to the draconian, life-threatening expedient of severing the health coverage of people who have nowhere else to turn” (“Curing Health Costs:  Let the Sick Suffer”, Bob Herbert, New York Times, 9/1/2005).

National medical associations and health care advocacy groups spoke out against the cuts.  In one letter to Governor Bredesen signed by 46 national groups, including the National Medical Association, the Children’s Defense Fund, numerous disability groups, HIV Medicine Association, the African American Health Alliance, and Families USA,  “serious concerns” were raised about the proposed changes to TennCare and the ability of people to get appropriate medical care (September 17, 2004, Letter to Gov. Bredesen from 46 National Organizations). Click here to see letters from state and national health care advocacy groups.

Rev. Dr. Dwight Montgomery, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Memphis Chapter

Civil rights groups, both state and national, joined in protesting the cuts to TennCare.  Theodore Shaw with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund writes to Governor Bredesen expressing “deep concern” about basing the standard of care for persons on TennCare on what is “least costly” and “adequate” (September 15, 2004, Letter to Gov. Bredesen from T. Shaw, NAACP Legal Defense Fund). Gloria Sweet-Love, president of the NAACP Tennessee state conference, speaks to the cuts in TennCare widening the racial gap:  “We believe that it is vital to provide emergency and critical care, medication and necessary followup procedures and treatments for those with chronic health conditions that require sustained monitoring.  African-Americans experience higher rates of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer.  Nationally, African-Americans are more likely to have incomes below 200 percent of the poverty level. African-Americans' ability to access primary and preventive care will be further limited if TennCare is discontinued” (“Don’t load burden on poorest of the poor, Gloria Sweet-Love, Commercial Appeal, November 28, 2004). Click here to see NAACP state resolution.

More than 200 religious leaders from across the state of Tennessee wrote to Governor Bredesen twice, calling on him to reform TennCare so that “our vulnerable brothers and sisters are not forced to carry added medical and financial burden they can ill afford to carry” (September 16, 2004, Letter to Gov. Bredesen).  (See also December 15, 2004, Letter to Gov. Bredesen.)  Tennessee’s Catholic Bishops wrote to Senator Frist asking him for an “infusion of federal help to TennCare”, stating further “We call upon your leadership to show all Tennesseans that human dignity can be protected and a healthy community can be achieved and preserved when our leaders meet their duties and responsibilities to their constituents and all Tennesseans.” (Tennessee Register, “State needs Sen. Frist’s help to restore TennCare”, November 18, 2005).  The Southern Christian Leadership Conference – Memphis Chapter wrote Governor Bredesen suggesting other ways to save money in TennCare without “slashing medical services” which means that “many good people will suffer and even die” (February 4, 2005, Letter to Gov. Bredesen).   Click here to see more letters, resolutions and related articles.

Ron Pollack, Founding Executive Director, Families USA

Researchers predicted both the costs to the economy and to human lives.  The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nationally respected fiscal policy and public program organization in Washington D.C., issued an analysis that predicts cuts to TennCare will result in thousands of jobs lost and a reduction in total economic activity by $800 million in FY 2005 growing to $2.4 billion in FY 2008 (“Will the New TennCare Cutbacks Hurt Tennessee’s Economy”, Leighton Ku, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, July 8, 2004).  A study on the economic impact of the loss of federal dollars due to the cuts conducted by the University of Tennessee Center for Health Services Research produced findings consistent with this (UT CHSR, “Economic Impacts of a Cut in State Expenditures on TennCare:  The Role of the Federal Match”, 9/2005).  The Center for Health Services Research also conducted a study that predicts that cutting people from TennCare will raise the death rate by as many as 275 deaths per year (UT CHSR, “The Impact of Reducing TennCare Rolls on Mortality Rates, 3/2002).  Concerned about the downstream costs to the greater community in terms of the demand placed on already financially strapped hospitals and health clinics with 30,000 in Shelby County cut from TennCare, both the Memphis City Council and the Shelby County Board of Commissioners passed resolutions calling on the governor and the legislature to find a solution to the TennCare crisis that did not mean cutting people off the program (Memphis City Council Resolution, May 17, 2005, Shelby County Board of Commissioners, June 24, 2005). Click here to read more research.

Newspapers throughout the state voiced opposition to the cuts.  Headlines speak for themselves:  “Pulling TennCare plug would hurt all of state: Impact on cities, economy, the mentally ill are being ignored”, Tennessean, 11/14/2004, “Death-bed scenarios and TennCare”, Tim Chavez, Tennessean, 5/5/2005, “Another view:  TennCare cuts real, ‘safety net’ is not”, Oak Ridger, 8/26/2005, “Hard landing after TennCare”, Commercial Appeal, 8/28/2005 ).  In an Op-Ed article for the Commercial Appeal, Cyril Chang, professor of economics at the University of Memphis and director of the Methodist Le Bonheur Center for Healthcare Economics argues for effective managing of TennCare to cut costs.  He states, “One of the most valuable lessons we have learned from TennCare is that managed care, as good as it sounds in theory, does not work if it is not managed well.  Another lesson is that knowing what to do is not the same as knowing how to do it.  State officials in and around the Bureau of TennCare undoubtedly know what needs to be done.  Anyone with a computer can visit the Web site of the Tennessee Justice Center ... for an excellent prescription for ways to cut TennCare costs.”  He states that now is the time to “improve efficiency and health outcomes”,  because “the alternative of continuing the pain and suffering associated with the TennCare cuts in benefits and enrollment is simply unacceptable”  (“Make TennCare more efficient to reduce pain”, Cyril Chang, Commercial Appeal, 5/21/2005). Click here to see more related articles.