Senator Gardenhire Says Governor Should Have Waited To Get Insure Tennessee In Better Shape

  • Monday, February 23, 2015
Senator Todd Gardenhire and Pachyderm Club President Scott McColpin
Senator Todd Gardenhire and Pachyderm Club President Scott McColpin

State Senator Todd Gardenhire told the Pachyderm Club on Monday that Governor Bill Haslam should have waited until his Insure Tennessee was fully ready prior to presenting it to the Legislature.

"Everybody in the world begged him to put it off until later in the year, he said.

Outside, protestors sang songs and berated the senator, who was among those on a Senate panel voting to kill the bill.

Senator Gardenhire told the Republican group, "The numbers weren't there. They just didn't add up."

He added, "Unfortunately, this plan was unsustainable." But he said a better plan "could have been worked out in 6-9 months."

Senator Gardenhire said it at least needed to be delayed until the U.S. Supreme Court rules in June on the Affordable Care Act. He also said that the next president could be a Republican and could opt to end the Affordable Care Act program.

He said legislators initially were told that the bill "would not cost Tennessee a dime." Then, he said, legislators were told just prior to the vote that there would be a $15 million state cost.

The speaker said the budget was already set "and that amount would have to come out of somebody else's hide."

Senator Gardenhire said a speaker before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the eve of the Insure Tennessee vote said "that the specifics need to be nailed down." He said this speaker was not a Republican, but was "Phil Bredesen's chief legal expert on TennCare."

Noting that he has become "the bad guy" and Doctor Death" in the Insure Tennessee debate, said he met with Governor Haslam just before the vote. He said, "It is hard to sit there and tell a governor no - especially one you like and respect."

Senator Gardenhire said he began getting correspondence from Chamber of Commerce and Tennessee Business Roundtable groups in support of the bill "before we had even seen it."

He said he wondered why the groups were backing it so strongly. He said he was advised "to follow the money. The insurance costs were going to be shifted from the businesses onto the government."

Also, he said rural hospital were strongly for the program. He said he concluded it was "a true rural hospital bailout."

He said hospitals "said with a wink that they would cover any extra costs" (such as the $15 million). He said this was to have been through a hospital fee to patients - "a hospital tax."

He stated, "Nobody was excited about taking care of patients. But they were sure excited about getting the money."

Senator Gardenhire said he sought advice from many different groups and sides of the aisle on Insure Tennessee. He said some "never called me back" - including prominent Democrat Riley Darnell.

The speaker said 1.3 million Tennesseans are already on TennCare - including 1.3 million of the state's 6.3 million residents.

He said TennCare costs have risen from $2.6 billion in 1993 to $10 billion now. He said the increase is 255 percent, while the population has gone up 26 percent.

Senator Gardenhire also spoke about Erlanger Health System, saying just last July legislators were told that it was in dire financial straits and "the bondholders were about to foreclose on the hospital."

He said, "We were told how terrible things were and that they had only 45 days cash to make payroll."

He said Erlanger was seeking help to go after a pot of $20 million in funds that is limited to hospitals not making a profit.

Senator Gardenhire said after he and others helped Erlanger get the large amount that "the hospital was making a $17 million profit even after providing $86 million in uncompensated care." They were paying out big bonuses and cutting benefits that retirees had been promised."

He said initially "the gentleman from Memphis" (Kevin Spiegel) was unaware of the $20 million fund. Senator Gardenhire said when he brought up the topic, "he didn't know anything about it."

 

Protestors outside the Pachyderm Club
Protestors outside the Pachyderm Club
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