DAY SIXTY-FOUR: Safety Net is a Sham.

Bredesen Administration has used “Safety Net” for Public Relations not healthcare.

(NASHVILLE, August 22, 2005) The Bredesen Administration has used the term “safety net” to deflect public concern over hundreds of thousands of citizens losing their healthcare. Tennesseans will be more accepting of the radical shortfall in medical assistance if they believe the governor is working to soften the blow. The safety net reality in Tennessee, however, is more show than substance.

Clinics have not received a dime of the $12 million promised that is needed to expand hours and hire new physicians. Many clinics have simply turn people away, although private and nonprofit health clinic directors across the state say they've been swamped with calls from former TennCare patients. 

"What good is a safety net,” said Rep. Gary Odom, a Democrat from Nashville, “that goes into place weeks after disenrollment has taken place?"

Likewise, former enrollees state that the discount drug offers from pharmaceutical companies do not cover necessary and expensive medications, generic or otherwise. Some enrollees are finding it hard to get essential prescribed medical equipment like catheters and colostomy bags.

Advocates are also concerned that the limited-time discounts from the drug companies will only delay the larger healthcare problems bearing down on Tennessee. County and city resources will see a expansion in expensive Emergency Room admissions, but the medical costs of thousands who do without necessary drugs for months will also disproportionately hit acute care facilities and require intricate and expensive treatment.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found:

Most people who lost TennCare coverage would become uninsured. They would, however, still need medical care. As a result, many or most of these people would attempt to obtain free or reduced price health care from hospitals, clinics and other providers across the state. As a result, uncompensated care would increase significantly. Based on earlier studies conducted by the Urban Institute on the relationship between lack of insurance and uncompensated care, the uncompensated care sought by Tennesseans losing coverage would amount to between roughly $230 million and $450 million a year. Such large increases in uncompensated care could lead to substantial financial losses for health care providers.

Governor Phil Bredesen’s talk of a “safety net” has been an effective public relations tool to help deflect the natural concern that the massive disenrollment has caused. Because of protests of Glen Barnhill and others the governor did not include ventilator users in the healthcare cut on July 31, delaying that action to the end of the year. But vent users are going to be no safer on December 31, 2005 when their services end. 

Recently the administration announced that some of the state budget surplus could go to help citizens who have lost their healthcare. These funds, however, represent a huge loss of revenue. If TennCare were still in place, the state would see two dollars match each state dollar. The Bredespin administration, which cries about how TennCare was breaking the state, not only finds a huge surplus, but must spend the money on the self-inflected healthcare problem in Tennessee.

- Tim Wheat