1. TennCare (Tennessee's Medicaid Program) is health insurance coverage for very low-income qualified Tennesseans.
Answer: True, TennCare is health insurance coverage to very low-income children, pregnant women, seniors and people with disabilities, including women diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer through the Breast & Cervical Cancer Screening Program.
Health insurance coverage through Medicaid helps Tennesseans stay healthy, go to work, and care for their families. Medicaid covers many of the same services as private health insurance. Every state’s Medicaid program covers benefits like: inpatient and outpatient hospital services, physician services, tobacco cessation counseling for pregnant women, and laboratory and x-ray services. States have the option to cover additional benefits like: prescription drugs, preventive services, dental services, and hospice care.
2. Select the population NOT covered by TennCare (Tennessee's Medicaid program):
Answer: Those who do not qualify for employer insurance
Federal law requires states cover low-income families, qualified pregnant women and children, blind or disabled individuals, individuals receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and some seniors. States can cover more people than the federal law requires. States also choose the income levels for people to qualify for the state’s Medicaid program. In some states, low-income children qualify for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), but their parents might not qualify for Medicaid.
Tennessee’s Katie Beckett program is for children under the age of 18 with disabilities or complex medical needs. This program is for children who are not traditionally Medicaid eligible because of their parent’s income or assets. This program provides services and/or help pay for medical care that private insurance does not cover.
3. What percentage of Tennessee children are covered by TennCare (Tennessee's Medicaid program)?
Answer: 50% of Tennessee children are covered by TennCare
2014 nearly 1/3rd of children diagnosed with cancer were enrolled in Medicaid at the time of their cancer diagnosis.
4. Tennessee has expanded TennCare (Tennessee's Medicaid program)
Answer: False, Tennessee has not expanded Medicaid eligibility
In 36 states and the District of Columbia, low-income adults qualify for health insurance coverage through Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act. In these states, the eligibility for Medicaid has been expanded to adults earning up to 138 percent of the FPL ($1,436/month for a single adult). In the other 14 states, many low-income adults and parents do not qualify for Medicaid. These adults are often referred to as people in the “coverage gap.” They earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to receive tax credits to purchase health insurance on the federal marketplace.
5. Many low-income, uninsured Tennesseans, delay or forgo medical care because of cost and they worry every day that they are one cancer diagnosis away from financial ruin.
Answer: True
Research continues to show that patients forego health services, including important preventive services like colonoscopies and mammograms, when they must pay more out-of-pocket. Medicaid coverage provides affordable access to life-saving preventive services and cancer treatments to cancer patients, survivors, and those who will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime.
Learn More:
Protect Access to Care for TennCare Enrollees
Countless low-income Tennesseans are covered by TennCare (Tennessee’s Medicaid program) including cancer patients, children, pregnant women, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities. Implementation of the TennCare III waiver will cap the amount of federal funding available to the state to administer the program and reduce TennCare enrollees access to lifesaving