Haslam Makes His Final Insure Tennessee Sales Pitch

NOTE: We will air live coverage of Governor Haslam’s address to a special session of the Tennessee General Assembly tonight. The broadcast begins at 6pm on 90.3 WPLN-FM.

Gov
. Bill Haslam
will deliver one of the most important speeches of his life tonight, when the state legislature opens a special session on his Insure Tennessee health care proposal.

Haslam is set to address a joint session of the Tennessee General Assembly at 6 p.m. — an opportunity to make a final sale’s pitch to state lawmakers before they hold hearings on his proposal to expand Medicaid.

Many of Haslam’s fellow Republicans were elected on the promise that they’d do everything they could to oppose Obamacare
. 
So getting conservatives like Rep.
Andy Holt, R-Dresden, to support Insure Tennessee will be tough to say the least.

“I’ll tell you what I see. I see a plan that will create more dependency,” Holt said at a question-and-answer session on Insure Tennessee last week. “And I’m personally not comfortable with that.”

Haslam
has been quick to say that Insure Tennessee is not “Obamacare
,” a point he’ll almost certainly try to drive home this evening.

The governor instead describes his proposal as a unique, two-part plan. One half
gives low-wage workers vouchers to buy private coverage through their employers.

The other half gives people who can’t qualify for Medicaid coverage that’s similar, but with co-payments and
incentives designed to keep them from abusing the health system.

An ”
overwhelmingly majority” of Democrats say they back Insure Tennessee.

But Haslam
needs the support of at least third of the legislature’s Republicans or more. A critical hurdle could come Wednesday, when Republicans in the House plan to hold a caucus meeting to decide whether they’ll get behind the proposal.