Tennessee Health Insurance

How healthy is living in Tennessee?

In it's 2007 update on the country's healthiest states to live in, United Health Foundation gave Tennessee the rank of 46th.

Tennesse has the least amount of binge drinking in the USA. That alone -- if maintained -- should raise Tennessee overall score in 2008. This year UHF once again tracked binge drinking but did not take it into account in determining overall rankings.

On the flip side, only one state has a higher occurance of violent crime (neigboring South Carolina). And it's been on the rise since 1990. In the 20 categories the foundation considers, Tennesse ranks in the bottom ten states in 12 of them.

The state ranks low for number of smokers but is gaining ground fast. In the 2006, 26.7 percent smoked and now its down to 22.6 percent. And this is down from 30.8 percent back in 1990.

See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Tennessee.

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Does Tennessee have a risk pool for the uninsurable?

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

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 poolto 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. Find more on risk pools here.

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Cover The Uninsured's guide on finding health insurance in Tennessee

Cover The Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. Read more information on its efforts. It is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• Cover The Uninsured's facts on the uninsured in Tennessee.
• Its guide on how to find health insurance in Tennessee.
• Materiales En Español -- Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

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Georgetown University's Guide to Health Insurance in Tennessee

Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute has researched and written state-by-state guides for finding and keeping health insurance. It updates these guides as federal and state policies change. A number of non-profit organizations contribute to funding its research. Find more on the Health Policy Institute.

• Georgetown's guide for Tennessee.

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News headlines on Tennessee health insurance

Find the most recent headlines on health insurance in Tennessee at Google News or Yahoo News.

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Want single-payer health care? Concerned about the uninsured?
Contact your elected officials about health care issues

Contact your federal officials. Phone calls are best. Faxes are good, too. Since 9-11 postal mail creates long delays, and many members of Congress simply do not take e-mail seriously -- however, since e-mail is so easy it doesn't hurt to do that, too. Members of the Senate and Congress will usually ignore any correspondence that is not from their district, so its not desirable to blanket e-mail them (this type of abuse is why many do not view it favorably). The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a guide on how to contact your elected officials, including a valuable list of dos and dont's.

• Contact the White House
  Phone: toll free 1-800-671-7887 (ask for the Comment Line)
  FAX: 1 202-456-2461 (fax)
  E-mail:comments@whitehouse.gov
  
  
• Find contact information on your U.S. Representative
  Locate by using your ZIP Code
  Or if you know who your representative is, simply call the Capitol Switchboard toll-free at 1-800-962-3524

• Senator Lamar Alexander
  PHONE: 202-224-4944 (DC office)
  FAX: 202-228-3398 (DC office)
  Local offices
  Contact by E-mail

• Senator Bob Corker
  PHONE: 202-224-3344 (DC office)
  FAX: 202-228-0566 (DC office)
  Local offices
  Contact by E-mail
  
  

Contact your state officials:

• Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen
  Tennessee State Capitol
  Nashville, TN 37243-0001
  PHONE: 615-741.2001
  FAX: 615-532-9711
  Contact by e-mail
  
  
  
• Contact your Tennessee State Senator
• Contact your Tennessee State Representative

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USNews health insurance rankings for Tennessee

US News does an annual ranking of what it considers the best health insurance plans in each state. Visit its reports on various health insurance or medical insurance plans being offered in Tennessee.

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Official State Goverment Sites with Tennessee Health Insurance Information

Tennessee Insurance Division, Department of Commerce and Insurance -- state-recommended resources for those Tennesseans seeking health coverage.

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

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