An attempt to revive Governor Bill Haslam's Insure Tennessee legislation failed in the General Assembly on Tuesday.
It failed to pass out of the Senate Commerce Committee.
Senate Pro Tempore Bo Watson said he "remains hopeful that innovation and solutions outside the growth of TennCare will address the problems of access to care and high costs."
He said, “Politics promises an immediate solution that many times carries unintended consequences. Effective policy considers the short and long-term impact especially when spending taxpayer money. I still remember the harm to our state’s budget that occurred with the excessive growth of TennCare a few short years ago.”
Senator Watson, who voted against the proposal, added, “Both Democrats and Republicans recognize that existing Medicaid costs already dominate so much of Tennessee’s budget that other essential needs like education, roads, and public safety are unable to be properly funded due to limited tax-payer dollars.
“A great deal of Insure TN would be funded by federal pass-through dollars; however, our state would have to increase spending on an annual basis to administer this expansion of Medicaid. There is no such thing as a free program as many want to believe. As I hear requests for increased funding for roads and schools, including the threat of lawsuits for inadequate education funding, spending even more money to grow our Medicaid rolls may be good politics, but is not policy that taxpayers expect.”
Mary Mancini, chair of the Tennessee Democratic Party, hit the action, saying, “Today’s vote on Insure Tennessee shows that Tennessee Republicans don’t care if they deny health care to hardworking Tennesseans. They don’t care that working families will go broke if they get sick. They don’t care that hospitals are going to close and people will lose their jobs. They don’t care that without health care, Tennesseans will die.
"The ridiculous amount of time they spent debating whether or not 'Insure Tennessee' is 'Obama Care' clearly shows that they let their hatred of President Obama get in the way of doing what’s right for the people of Tennessee."
State Senator Jeff Yarbro released the following statement after the vote against Senate Joint Resolution 93 authorizing the Insure Tennessee plan:
"It's heartbreaking to see the Senate Commerce Committee fail to act on Insure Tennessee and fail to offer any alternative. Our work to provide health coverage to Tennesseans must continue.
"I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to the hundreds of people who came to their Capitol today to make their voices heard. We can't give up now."
House Democratic Leader Craig Fitzhugh said, "I know there are a lot of disappointed people across the state today. I'm disappointed too, but it's not what we feel today that matters, it's what we resolve to get up and do tomorrow. The House has yet to have our chance to vote on Insure Tennessee. We deserve that chance, our constituents deserve the right to be heard and 300,000 Tennesseans who get up everyday, go to work and pay taxes deserve the chance to have health care. This is a moral issue and we have a moral imperative to pick ourselves up and keep fighting."