End TennCare excuses, choose new director

Enough.

No more stalling, no more lies, and no more of the current leadership at TennCare.

Darin Gordon, director of TennCare and a deputy commissioner of the state Department of Finance and Administration, was told nearly a month ago by U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell that the agency for Medicaid in Tennessee must set up a timely appeals process for thousands of people who have applied for eligibility.

Instead of working on a way to fulfill this important obligation, Gordon apparently has spent the intervening time working to get Campbell's order reversed. On Friday, Gordon, Finance/Administration Commissioner Larry Martin and Human Services Commissioner Raquel Hatter filed a challenge with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Apparently, it's better in these state officials' minds that taxpayer dollars be spent to defend their mistakes than doing the least the state could do for low- and middle-income Tennesseans who desperately need health coverage.

Meanwhile, TennCare officials continue to insist they cannot identify who the applicants for Medicaid are, and as a result are unable to inform those applicants that they can request an eligibility hearing.

Applicants have been trying to get their cases heard for six months, sometimes longer. This situation already was dire before Judge Campbell acted. And still Gordon and TennCare officials have no answers — only excuses and brazen attempts to shift blame.

The agency says its $35 million computer system isn't working, preventing officials from identifying applicants. That, at least, is believable. It is well known that information systems for Tennessee state government, from Children's Services to Labor to TennCare, are expensive and flawed.

One applicant The Tennessean's Tom Wilemon identified in a report last week is Terri Lynn Casola. She was on a list of 100 people whose cases TennCare agreed to expedite after Campbell's order. But as of Sept. 25, TennCare officials claimed her case was still "lost in the system." The next day, the appeal of Campbell's ruling was filed — which apparently means TennCare never had any intention of expediting Casola's case or the 99 others.

Ms. Casola had to go to an emergency room last week for treatment for kidney stones and subsequently underwent surgery. ERs carry an exponentially higher cost for treatment than having regular care with a physician, and TennCare, through its obstructionism and general ineptitude, is passing along such costs to all Tennesseans.

Casola is just one among thousands who cannot get even basic information from TennCare on what documentation they need to prove eligibility. Providing that help is part of TennCare's reason to exist — yet it shirks that responsibility.

Since June, when TennCare's misfires became widely known, Director Gordon has pointed the finger whenever his own performance comes under scrutiny. He says healthcare.gov, the federal Affordable Care Act website that has its own difficulties, is to blame for his problems.

Ludicrous. Judge Campbell, the Tennessee Justice Center and other experts know that TennCare's inability or unwillingness to handle Medicaid applicants is the worst anywhere in the country.

With the appellate court filing, Gordon and his TennCare lieutenants show their true colors. They inappropriately decided to stop staffing offices to help Medicaid applicants and instead "dumped" them on healthcare.gov. And because the Affordable Care Act is controversial, they seem to think they can pin their mistakes on the feds and no one will be the wiser.

Honest, hardworking people who need medical care are hurting because of these evasions. Judge Campbell's order, which includes class-action status for the thousands disenfranchised by TennCare's inaction, should be allowed to stand, and Gov. Bill Haslam should replace Darin Gordon with a director who will honor his or her obligations.