Tennessee finally closing the Medicaid Gap?

The Three-Star Healthcare Taskforce Pilot Program for Tennessee

The Three-Star Healthcare Taskforce released an outline of a Medicaid expansion plan today. The process has taken far too long and has been costly for the state of Tennessee, but finally our state may have an insurance proposal that could close the coverage gap.

The Taskforce was created by Speaker Beth Harwell to address the Legislature overlooking the issue of Medicaid Expansion in the state of Tennessee. The Three-Star Healthcare Taskforce has been hearing from the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services about the proposal.

The proposal is called a “Pilot” program and may be adopted as soon as April of next year. The first phase of the plan would be to cover about 140,000 people in Tennessee without insurance by diagnosis, and expand the program if it meets goals set for the first six months. The proposal includes employment and job training services for enrollees.

Phase two would be rolled out in January of 2018 at the earliest. The second phase will close the coverage gap and be paid for by the federal government through the Affordable Care Act and the Tennessee Hospital Association will pick-up the balance.