Tennessee Health Insurance

How healthy is living
in Tennessee?

Tennessee rose from 41st in 2011 to 39th in 2012 according to America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation.

The good news:

• At 10.0 percent of adults, Tennessee has the lowest binge-drinking rate in the nation.
• Air pollution decreased by six percent between 2011 and 2012.

The bad news:

• More than 35 percent of adults have a sedentary lifestyle.
• Tennessee ranks 42nd for low birth weight and 45th for its infant mortality rate.

Tennessee's best and worst category rankings:

• Binge Drinking – 1st
• Geographic Disparity – 17th
• Primary Care Physicians – 20th
• Preventable Hospitalizations – 46th
• Violent Crime – 47th
• Sedentary Lifestyle – 48th

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Tennessee.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key Tennessee health quality findings. In addition, 2010's federal health reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), included the creation of a prevention fund to provide more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation, and the site has a report on how it impacts Tennessee here.

get local health results

State snapshot too large? Get county-by-county health rankings for Tennessee, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

Does Tennessee have a health insurance high risk pool?

Tennessee's Tenncare Program
1-888-486-9355

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, Tennessee started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about Tennessee's participation, click here.

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state to state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the pool to keep it in the black. In the best cases, they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Read more about risk pools here.

Non-profit sources of health insurance information for Tennessee

• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's mission is to provide simplified public and private health insurance eligibility information in order to help more people access coverage. Here is its guide on how to find health insurance in Tennessee.
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is tracking the progress of health insurance reform in each state. Its page for Tennessee can be found here.
• The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers. Search for Tennessee health insurance plan report cards.

Tennessee state government health insurance resources

National health reform and Tennessee —  State resources on the implantation of the Affordable Care Act.

TennCare Program —  Tennessee’s Medicaid managed care program that provides health coverage for 1.2 million low-income children, pregnant woman and disabled Tennesseans.

TennCare Oversight Division, Department of Commerce and Insurance —  Oversees, examines and monitors Health Maintenance Organizations and Behavioral Health Organizations participating in the TennCare program.

How did Tennessee officials vote on health reform?

H.R.2: Repealing the Health Care Bill

#14

Date of Vote: 1/19/2011 Status: House passed 245-189, 1 not voting

HOUSE|SENATE

1/19/2011--Passed House amended. Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, effective as of its enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Act. Repeals the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of the Act's enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by the Act's health care provisions. [more]

Yes (7)

• Diane Black
• Marsha Blackburn
• Scott DesJarlais

• John Duncan
• Stephen Fincher
• Chuck Fleischmann

• Phil Roe

Our
Pick

No (2)

• Steve Cohen
• Jim Cooper