TennCare Stories
Please share stories of how TennCare cuts have affected you or someone you know.
Do Not share full names or other confidential information.
posted by Jason Brock at 10:08 AM
Monday, October 10, 2005
Do Not share full names or other confidential information.
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After my company eliminated my division, I retired early. My company insurance ended when I left the company. I was able to get COBRA for 18 months. Three months before my COBRA was to end, I started to search for health insurance. I was encouraged to find that, if I joined Farm Bureau, I could get Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance. I completed their application and was told, because of an irregular heart beat, my rates would be higher.
Within two weeks, I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes. At that point I was turned down for insurance. I applied for TennCare as an uninsurable person.
I was approved to receive TennCare insurance for a small monthly premium and co-pay for doctors visits and prescriptions.
When the story of TennCare cuts hit the newspapers and TV, I started again to find insurance. Humana said theirs was only for Medicare-not Medicaid patients. Healthspring told me “Good Luck” but would not consider me for insurance. I called every “800” number anyone told me about. Because of the federal law which states that someone has to take applications from those of us who were kicked off TennCare, I applied to Blue Cross/Blue Shield by phone. They sent me an application and information on insurance available.
The two plans I could apply for were quite expensive. I took the cheaper of the two which has an out-of-pocket cost of $13,000.00 for one year. It does not include drug coverage. I have since found out that neither my cardiologist nor the hospital I have gone to accepts this insurance. I have had to change cardiologists to one who accepts my insurance and has privileges at a hospital that takes the insurance also.
I will have to pay $8,500.00 myself before the insurance will cover my health care expenses. Hopefully I will not require that many visits to the doctors or hospital. I really feel that I am throwing money down a black hole but my family physician said he felt I should have insurance because of my heart condition. I know my story is just one of many and many people have more problems than I do. I am 64 so I only have one year until I can go on Medicare, hopefully receiving better and cheaper coverage.
Dot
I recently became aware of this story covered by a Knoxville TV station.
Peggy Hickman
Member of City Road Chapel United Methodist Church
"I don't want to die": Cancer without coverage (WVLT-TV Knoxville)
Fentress County (WVLT) - TennCare cuts are still hurting people all over East Tennessee. One Fentress County woman's health insurance was dropped just days after she began treatments to fight cancer. Volunteer TV’s Kim Bedford sat down with the bed-ridden 58-year old who says she's living one day at a time, unable to afford her health care. "There ain't nothing I can do. Just lay here,” Hazel Duncan worked 50 hours a week until she was diagnosed with lung cancer at the end of September. She started receiving treatment for it under TennCare, until one alarming doctor's office visit. "We had set up to take her again the next day, we was notified she was discontinued from TennCare," says Vanessa, Hazel’s daughter. Hazel was told in July she'd be cut from TennCare, but with the help of her daughter Vanessa, she appealed it. "We were told she would have it till December,” explains Vanessa. Now Duncan lays helplessly in bed, unable to pay for treatment.
http://www.volunteertv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4064783&nav=4QcI
It breaks my heart to see what so many people have gone through to retain their health (I worked Vanderbilt ICU for 5 years)....just to have it wiped away from them by TennCare cuts. Many will die without medications...I've seen it.
Furthermore, we adopted a son who has special needs. For years, we were misinformed and told repeatedly that he was NOT elibible for TennCare once we adopted him. We appealed this twice and were rejected each time (because his special needs were not diagnosed before his adoption when he was less than 3 years old). In the meantime, insurance companies would not cover him because his conditions were pre-existing. Therefore, we were unable to afford the BEST medication or to take him to Bill Wilkerson for help. He was lost between the two situations without proper medical help. Someone finally informed us that we were indeed supposed to have TennCare on this uninsurable child. He has progressed incredibly now that we have the proper time release medication, the therapy he needs, and medical assistance warranted for his conditions. We did not get "dropped" as so many have, but we certainly have experienced what it's like not to be able to afford the medical care needed. There is enough money in the USA to take care of our elderly, children, and infirmed...
Not to discount anything that others have shared, but we have had a huge problem in our area with Tenncare abuse. One couple in our church, even with considerable help and coaching from staff and our parish nurse, went to the E.R. for anything beyond a burp. The system encouraged irresponsibility. It is a shame that some people in real need have had their benefits cut, but it is also a shame that other people, either in ignorance or in deceit, abused the system wildly. Frankly, on the Plateau, in our experience, it has been more of the second then the first. I doubt this comment will be shared with the Governor, but we admire him for making a very difficult decision. Now, something must be done for folks who are legitimately in need...but the real villian isn't Gov. Bredison, it is the people who abused the system and almost bankrupted the state...
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