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Haslam Stalling On TennCare Expansion

Gov. Bill Haslam continues to stall his decision on enlarging Tennessee’s Medicaid program – known as TennCare.  Though, he says he will reveal his position one way or the other this week. The deadline is self-imposed. The Supreme Court struck down part of the Affordable Care Act that required states to expand their Medicaid rolls. But Haslam said he wants to make up his mind and move on.

“We’ve been working toward the understanding that if we can come to a decision to what’s best for Tennessee, to decide that now would be better than waiting,” Haslam said.

The federal government would pay the entire cost of insuring more than 100,000 people who currently make too much money to qualify. After three years, the state would be responsible for no more than 10 percent. State lawmakers are already making a move. One bill to be debated this week would block the state from expanding TennCare.

Copyright 2013 WPLN. To see more, visit http://www.wpln.org/.

Blake Farmer is Nashville Public Radio's senior health care reporter. In a partnership with Kaiser Health News and NPR, Blake covers health in Tennessee and the health care industry in the Nashville area for local and national audiences.