NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – GOP lawmakers are making the case for a more limited approach to Medicaid expansion than was envisioned by Republican Gov. Bill Haslam’s Insure Tennessee proposal.
The task force appointed by Republican House Speaker Beth Harwell said Thursday that its 3-Star Health proposal would first focus extending coverage to uninsured people with behavioral health problems and to veterans.
Republican Rep. Cameron Sexton of Crossville said the task force has presented its plan to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services but acknowledged that no other state has been approved for a similar approach.
The proposal would also need the approval of the GOP-controlled Legislature, which rejected Haslam’s Insure Tennessee proposal to extend coverage to 280,000 people amid fears that it was too closely linked to President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.
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