Tennessee – Governor Phil Bredesen’s Cover Tennessee Plan
Cover Tennessee has three key themes: accessibility, effectiveness, and personal responsibility. Cover Tennessee is not an entitlement program — it is voluntary health insurance coverage that is affordable to participants and affordable to the state. The plan offers individuals several different insurance products to meet their needs. The products are the following:
- CoverKids - comprehensive health coverage for uninsured children in Tennessee, ages 18 and under, and for pregnant women
- AccessTN - a comprehensive health insurance plan for seriously ill adults who have been turned down by insurance companies
- CoverTN - partnership among the state, private employers, and individuals to offer guaranteed, affordable basic health coverage for employees of Tennessee's small businesses. (Businesses must complete a qualification form to find out if they qualify.)
- CoverTN is open initially to businesses that haven't offered health benefits for at least six months and have fewer than 25 workers.
- At least half of the firm's workers must earn $41,000 or less annually [1].
- CoverTN is open initially to businesses that haven't offered health benefits for at least six months and have fewer than 25 workers.
- CoverRx - affordable medication to low-income, uninsured Tennesseans
- ProjectDiabetes/Coordinated School Health - an educational pilot project in which schools across the state to teach healthy lifestyles and eating habits; the initiative also includes the launching of a grant program to reduce Type 2 Diabetes and obesity
To learn more, please visit http://www.covertn.gov/index.html
[1] "Covering the Uninsured, But Only up to $25,000:Tennessee Experiment Goes Against the Grain As States Remake Care" (The Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2007)
This page was last updated on 4/17/2007
