Today, Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) submitted his concerns about block granting Tennessee’s Medicaid program at a public forum hosted by the state on “The Progress of the TennCare Demonstration.” In his letter, Congressman Cohen asks the state to “undo this dangerous TennCare Demonstration,” which would imperil care for elderly, disabled and low-income Tennesseans.
Congressman Cohen has been a harsh critic of Governor Bill Lee’s efforts to block grant TennCare. He wrote to state and federal officials seeking to prevent it in advance of the Trump Administration’s decision to approve the block grant waiver. Earlier this year, Congressman Cohen wrote to President-elect Biden asking him to rescind approval for the block grant waiver.
The comment for the public forum reads, in part:
“For every dollar Tennessee spends on Medicaid, the federal government matches it with $2.64. The section 1115 waiver that Tennessee is working to implement would enact an aggregate cap on federal funding for Tennessee’s Medicaid program, which could mean the State gets less federal money and bears more financial risk in exchange for less oversight and more flexibility. Additionally, the program allows Tennessee to direct unused federal Medicaid funds toward other “policy priorities,” which creates a perverse incentive for the State to cut health care for elderly, disabled and low-income Tennesseans as a means to divert the funds to their preferred projects rather than supporting Tennesseans with their most essential needs.”
Original source can be found here.
