DAY SIXTY-NINE: Bredesen considered scrapping TennCare just weeks after being elected Governor 

Campaign promises called into doubt

By The Tennessee Justice Center, A non-profit public interest law firm, which serves the poor. http://www.tnjustice.org/ 

Did Governor Bredesen ever intend to keep his campaign promise to save TennCare? That is the question raised yesterday by testimony in the Grier Case. Leo Sullivan, former TennCare Pharmacy Director, testified that in January 2003 he attended a meeting with Governor-Elect Bredesen to discuss TennCare. At this meeting, which was held only days before Bredesen's inauguration, Bredesen demanded that then TennCare Director Manny Martins, "tell me why I don't scrap TennCare right now." After Martins responded, the Governor-Elect said he was not convinced.

"The last two weeks of testimony by former and current State managers repeatedly confirms that the Bredesen Administration never made good on its promises, first to voters, then to the courts and TennCare patients, that the Governor would reform TennCare. Now, we have to wonder if he ever even intended to...," said Gordon Bonnyman, an attorney who is representing the Tennessee Justice Center in the Grier Case. 

Earlier testimony in the Grier hearing by Commissioner Dave Goetz revealed that Governor Bredesen did not even bother to obtain financial support from the Federal Government because he "felt it was unrealistic". Meanwhile, other state governors were seeking and receiving help from their congressional delegations to avoid the kind of crisis now facing Tennessee's health care system.

This testimony followed admissions early last week from Manny Martins, former TennCare director, that more than a year ago he had discussed terminating First Health's contract, because the state could not rely on any of the firm's data or systems. Martins' testimony was followed by Dr. Wendy Long, medical director of TennCare. She also conceded under cross-examination that TennCare officials discussed firing First Health. She testified that the firm had mishandled mail and data that affected TennCare's integrity and resulted in unnecessary overspending. During Long's testimony it was discovered that Richard Lodge, a former state Democratic Party chair and friend of the Governor, lobbied for First Health. The state then decided to extend First Health's contact without competitive bidding and more than doubled the firm's fee from $15 million to $37 million.

The Administration's response is to blame its management failures on the very same consent decree that the Governor himself helped draft, and publicly took credit for, in August 2003. "This is like the old schoolboy excuse that 'the dog ate my homework'", said Bonnyman. "It is tragic that Administration officials will not accept responsibility for their mistakes and focus on preventing suffering across the state among hundreds of thousands of innocent Tennesseans."

"The Grier hearing, requested by the Bredesen administration, is only a distraction from the fact that the State has not reformed TennCare," concluded Bonnyman. "The Governor continues to use legal maneuvering to avoid basic reforms. Every Tennessee taxpayer and certainly every TennCare enrollee is paying the price for the Governor's failure to fulfill his promises to the people of Tennessee."

From: The Tennessee Justice Center, A non-profit public interest law firm, which serves the poor.
http://www.tnjustice.org/