Court: Tenn. Medicaid Can Drop 323,000

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that state officials do not need a judge’s approval to drop 323,000 adults from Tennessee’s expanded Medicaid program.

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a ruling issued from Cincinnati that a federal judge overstepped his authority in January when he blocked the state from making the cuts.

Gov. Phil Bredesen wanted to cut the rolls to save money on the $8 billion TennCare program, and he got approval last month from the federal government, which pays two-thirds of the bill.

TennCare recipients went to court to protect their benefits, and U.S. District Judge William J. Haynes blocked the cutbacks pending a hearing.

The appeals court said Haynes improperly restricted “the state’s substantive policy choices in altering the TennCare program.”

TennCare serves about 1.3 million people, nearly 23 percent of the state’s population. The state has argued that keeping TennCare intact would require $650 million more in state spending – and would require deep cuts in almost every other budget area.