TJC Story Blog

Allyanna Pollard

Allyanna is pregnant with her first child and lives in Johnson City, Tennessee. She is due to have her baby in May 2021. She was living in Virginia when she became pregnant and has since moved to Tennessee. She had been told that Medicaid should cover all her pregnancy expenses. After she moved to Tennessee, she received a notification that her Medicaid effective date was after she had gone to some prenatal appointments. She had started seeing a doctor in October and applied for Medicaid in November, because no one had told her about the state’s lack of retroactive coverage. She moved to Tennessee in November where she has been approved for TennCare. She has been billed for some of her doctors’ appointments in Virginia and is looking into financial aid options or creating a payment plan. Allyanna’s experiences highlight the importance of retroactive Medicaid coverage and how important it is to educate pregnant women and other people newly eligible for Medicaid of the need to apply for Medicaid before their first doctor appointment and not later, to avoid receiving surprise bills.