Tennessee health insurance

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status report:
Tennessee state health insurance exchange

What progress is being made in setting up its federally-mandated Tennessee state health insurance exchange?"

About state health insurance exchanges

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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

how healthy is living in Tennessee?

Tennessee rose two spots last year's rankings as the 44th healthiest state to live in and is now the 42nd healthiest, according to the 2010 America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation.

The good news:

• Tennessee has the highest rate of immunization coverage in the country, as well as ranking second for low prevalence of binge drinking.
• Other strengths include a low geographic disparity (9.5 percent) and a high availability of primary care physicians (121.2 physicians per 100,000 of the population).
• Smoking has decreased in Tennessee since five years ago when it was 26.2 percent of the overall population; now it is 22 percent.

The bad news:

• Tennessee has one of the highest rates of obesity in the country, at 32.8 percent of the population.
• Other challenges include high rates of violent crime and preventable hospitalizations, although both have decreased in Tennessee over the past few years.
• Tennessee also has relatively high rates of infant mortality—8.5 deaths per 1,000 live births—and deaths due to cancer—215.3 deaths per 100,000 members of the population.

Tennessee's best and worst category rankings:

• Immunization coverage (94.1 percent) – 1st
• Prevalence of binge drinking (8.8 percent) – 2nd
• Infant mortality – 46th
• Prevalence of obesity – 48th
• Violent crime – 48th
• Poor physical health days – 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.

how to find 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 and all other states.
• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's guide on how to find health insurance in Tennessee.
• Materiales En Español – Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown's Tennessee health insurance guide

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 help fund its research. Learn more about the Health Policy Institute.

Review Georgetown's guide for Tennessee.

Health insurance plan report cards for Tennessee

The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers.

Go here to search for Tennessee health insurance plan report cards.

Tennessee government health insurance resources

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