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(42CFR 457.80(b))

2.2.1 The steps the state is currently taking to identify and enroll all uncovered children who are eligible to participate in public health insurance programs (i.e., Medicaid and state-only child health insurance):

Tennessee’s only public child health insurance program is TennCare which is administered by the Bureau of TennCare and covers Medicaid eligible children, as well as children eligible under Medicaid section 1115 demonstration authority. Eligibility levels for children in TennCare Medicaid are: infants to 185 percent of the FPL, ages 1 through 5 to 133 percent of the FPL, and ages 6 through 18 to 100 percent of the FPL. There are currently over 596,000 children enrolled in TennCare Medicaid. TennCare Standard, as described later in more detail, covers the demonstration population and is closed to new enrollment. Current enrollment in TennCare Standard is about 29,400 children.

Tennessee has moved aggressively to identify and enroll uninsured children who are eligible to participate in TennCare. For the first year of the TennCare program (1994), enrollment was open to individuals in an Uninsured eligibility category, which included children and adults at any income level who did not have access to health insurance through an employer. There also was an Uninsurable category, which was open to children and adults at any income level who had been turned down for health insurance due to a medical condition. There was massive publicity about the new program. The State retained a marketing firm to assist in the preparation of videos, television and radio spots and other materials to encourage people to enroll. A large TennCare Information Line was established to help people with questions and local health departments conducted major enrollment efforts in their communities. Providers such as community hospitals also worked to assist people enrolling in TennCare.

The success of these efforts is shown by the fact that the Uninsured category had to be closed at the end of December 1994 because the State was nearing its cap on the number of people who could be enrolled in TennCare. (The Uninsured category remained open to two distinct groups: people losing Medicaid eligibility and people losing access to COBRA coverage. Individuals in both groups had to lack access to health insurance through an employer or family member, and they had to apply within specified timeframes after losing coverage.) Although the Uninsured category was closed, enrollment of Medicaid eligibles

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