Does the additional Recovery Act money mean more people will be eligible for TennCare?
No. TennCare cannot use the recovery money to expand eligibility. TennCare will be maintaining all current eligibility groups during the recession adjustment period. TennCare does however estimate an increase in enrollees for the upcoming fiscal year, due to the nationwide economic downturn. These enrollees will be persons who qualify in current eligibility categories. Q: What will TennCare do with the money? A: Because of the nation-wide economic downturn, TennCarelike many state agencieswas faced with some very difficult budgetary decisions, including some reductions for both FY09 and FY10. We know that for FY09which ends June 30, 2009TennCare will no longer have to make some expected reductions due to the additional federal money from the Recovery Act. For instance, TennCare will be able to continue to provide supplemental payments to hospitals to help offset some of their uncompensated care costs, as well as continue to provide funding to university medical schools for graduate med
