MYTH # 4:
“TennCare has been a fiasco for both patients and health care providers.”

REALITY

As the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury has reported, “TennCare has reduced the number of uninsured persons in Tennessee and improved the quality and type of health care received.”1  The Comptroller found that it achieved these results while saving the state hundreds of millions of dollars.2 The Urban Institute found that “TennCare has been particularly successful in improving coverage of the uninsurable or high-risk individuals with very limited access to private coverage…”, and “most indicators point in the direction of improved health for low-income people relative to pre-TennCare levels.”3  A detailed statistical analysis performed by a research center hired by C.M.S. to evaluate TennCare suggests that, “[TennCare] improved access to care, reduced unmet need, and encouraged use of preventive services, particularly for children.”4

Although TennCare has caused problems for some health care providers, it has not had a significant adverse impact on the health care industry as a whole. In 2003 the hospital industry posted total profits of $542 million, and Tennessee hospitals’ profitability was well ahead of the national industry average.5  Tennessee ranks favorably in national data compiled by the American Medical Association regarding physician incomes.6