NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WMOT) -- Count the 185 non-profit clinics represented by the Tennessee Primary Care Association among those medical organization’s happy to see the Obamacare replacement bill delayed in the U.S. Senate.
TNPCA CEO Kathy Wood-Dobbins says the charity clinics serve 385,000 Tennesseans, 80 percent of them living in what she describes as “extreme poverty.”
Dobbins says the Senate bill’s proposed changes would “gut” the Medicaid program.
“In Tennessee, half of all births are covered by Medicaid…40 percent of all kids receive their healthcare with Tenncare coverage or Medicaid coverage, and 65 percent of all nursing home residents.”
Dobbins says she’s encouraged that Tennessee Senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander reached out to ask for input on the Senate’s Obamacare replacement plan. Her first suggestion? Don’t be in a hurry.
“The changes being proposed need to be accomplished very thoughtfully and very deliberately, and we think that the proposal that’s on the table for the Medicaid changes is one that needs to just go back to the drawing board.”
Corker and Alexnder also apparently OK with the bill’s delay. The Tennessean quotes Alexander saying “we need another few days to get it right,” and Corker saying he needs a few days to “resolve a number of legitimate issues.”
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