October 5, 2005

Pleading With Phil

The TennCare Saves Lives Coalition will hold a press conference Thursday to call again on Gov. Phil Bredesen to call a special legislative session on TennCare in hopes of finding other ways to reform the program than the governor's meat-axe budgetary approach that has resulted in tens of thousands of poor and eldery, sick or disabled people being removed from the rolls. At least one former TennCare patient has already died in part because Bredesen's cuts left him without needed medications.

A group of about 30 legislators have called for a special session on TennCare, but Bredesen objects, claiming a special session is sought as a way to reopen the income tax issue. But the only tax discussed by the TennCare Saves Lives Coalition is an increase in the tobacco tax to increase funding for TennCare. The message of tomorrow's presser: "This isn't about an income tax, it's about managing TennCare and saving lives."

It's going to be a bi-partisan event, with state Rep. Joey Hensley, a Republican, and state Rep. Ben West, a Democrat, on hand along with a members of the TennCare Advocates' Committee that studied the governor's TennCare reform plan.

I wish them well, though I suspect they're wasting their time - Bredesen and his crew view the TennCare cuts as a done deal - at least until next year when, magically, a few months before the November election, Bredesen will "find" a (pre-planned) way to restore thousands of people to the rolls, so he can pose both as the fiscally conservative "manager" of TennCare and as a compassionate liberal guy bringing healthcare to the needy at the same time.

Of course, it will be too late for the people who died as a direct result of Bredesen's cuts.