January 11, 2005

TennCare Pruned

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen does what has to be done regarding TennCare, the state's Cadillac health plan for Medicaid-eligible and uninsurable folks, announcing program changes that will slow the growth of the cost of the program. TennCare was a nice idea, but its original design and subsequent governance since 1994 - and most especially during the failed, flailing, fiscally reckless eight-year trainwreck of known as the Gov. Don Sundquist administration - made it chronically and endemically unaffordable. Via Instapundit, here's a good summary of the situation:

The failure of this system was predictable. If you give away something valuable, people will clamor for it. You don't make an expensive thing cheap by giving it away. You do, however, encourage over-use and a horrible squandering of resources. And a crippling shortage when you're finally unable to pay for it all. These cuts will save the state half a billion dollars. Shockingly, that's not a budget cut. Even with these changes, the TennCare budget is actually increasing year-over-year...

Tennessean editorial today: "TennCare's failure shouldn't be a stumbling block to universal health care; it should be a starting point for a national discussion."

Yeah. Let's fail bigger next time!