Thursday, January 27, 2005
The TennCare Diaries
In the Trailer Park - "Three TennCare Diaries" from Chattanooga
by John Bailes
[This story was published in the Chattanooga Pulse]
As I pursued the news storm about Gov. Phil Bredesen's TennCare cuts, the numbers were too staggering. 323,000 adults would disappear from TennCare - poof, this year! Another 397,000 adults would be diminished medically by new arbitrary restrictions. The children of course - all 612,000 of them - would be spared but with reduced benefits. I was searching for the humanity in the story, not just the astonishing numbers. I wanted to talk with someone who would be radically changed by these cuts. But, not surprisingly, I wasn't finding the "real life" stories in the media, at least not to my satisfaction. So I went looking for those human faces. As I did, I kept running into the experts in Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. I would always ask these officials whether they actually knew someone on TennCare and could they help me reach them. Amazingly, it took two weeks before one minister and a local nonprofit director connected me with three people on TennCare. And that is how the TennCare Diaries came about - and will continue online. Here are the stories of people you will not see every day, humans caught in the throes of disease and depression, yet very grateful for the mercy and tenderness that TennCare has delivered - until now. They are, in a word, humans on the brink. Click for entire story
by John Bailes
[This story was published in the Chattanooga Pulse]
As I pursued the news storm about Gov. Phil Bredesen's TennCare cuts, the numbers were too staggering. 323,000 adults would disappear from TennCare - poof, this year! Another 397,000 adults would be diminished medically by new arbitrary restrictions. The children of course - all 612,000 of them - would be spared but with reduced benefits. I was searching for the humanity in the story, not just the astonishing numbers. I wanted to talk with someone who would be radically changed by these cuts. But, not surprisingly, I wasn't finding the "real life" stories in the media, at least not to my satisfaction. So I went looking for those human faces. As I did, I kept running into the experts in Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. I would always ask these officials whether they actually knew someone on TennCare and could they help me reach them. Amazingly, it took two weeks before one minister and a local nonprofit director connected me with three people on TennCare. And that is how the TennCare Diaries came about - and will continue online. Here are the stories of people you will not see every day, humans caught in the throes of disease and depression, yet very grateful for the mercy and tenderness that TennCare has delivered - until now. They are, in a word, humans on the brink. Click for entire story
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mr bredesen took a $10.000 invesment and turned it into a 54 million dollor proffet and when he was trying to get elected he proclamed to fix ten care now he is going to murder 325,000 people who need thear dayley meds ,and target the elderly and the ones that need the medical services .lets hold him account able for his lack of careing and call your elected officals and tell them to help our fellow men and women who is a couple of days will be sent straght to hell to save a a dollor .we are the tax payers that keep this state running and we are getting a raw deal from our beloved elected officals thear medical is NOT going to be affected
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