From the AP report:

“I do think that a lot of the folks who are concerned about this have been either misinformed or have not taken the time to really understand it. And there’s legitimate concern about that. We want people to understand this,” Lee, a Republican, told reporters.

The public comment period is required under federal rules for seeking Medicaid waivers. Public hearings were scheduled for Nashville, Knoxville, and Jackson this week. Lee has said he will add stops in Chattanooga and Memphis.

The plan’s likelihood of ever being implemented, however, remains largely unknown. To date, no state has been given permission to rely solely on block grants to cover Medicaid expenses. The idea has been floated by Republicans for decades but never implemented, due to possible legal challenges and concerns that doing so would result in large spending cuts to the states’ most vulnerable populations.

Yet Lee remains hopeful, noting that support is growing under President Donald Trump’s administration and asserting that no services to the state’s indigent population will be cut. Tennessee’s GOP U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Marsha Blackburn have also expressed interest in the plan, an endorsement that some say could help push the idea further along.

The Nashville Business Journal:

The 50/50 split Lee is pitching, as well as other aspects of the proposal, are subject to changes and negotiation once Tennessee submits a formal proposal to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“We think we have crafted a waiver that is going to really mitigate the risk that Tennesseans have and actually give us an opportunity to benefit from the efficiencies and the way that we run our program,” Lee said. “That benefit will give us an opportunity to provide enhanced services to our TennCare population … and eventually, for the same money, provide additional services to more people.”

While health systems have yet to comment publicly on Lee’s plan, Republicans in Congress had pitched a similar proposal in 2017 as their effort to repeal and replace the federal Affordable Care Act. At the time, more than 20 organizations, including the American Hospital Organization and the American Medical Association, came out against the proposal, which ultimately failed.

_ The Washington Post:

Tennessee is setting up the nation’s first test case of how far the Trump administration is willing to go to allow a state the “flexibility” that has become a watchword of the administration’s health-care policies.

If TennCare, as that state calls its Medicaid program, wins federal approval for its plan, it could embolden other Republican-led states to follow suit. It also almost certainly would ignite litigation over the legality of such a profound change to the country’s largest public insurance program without approval by Congress.

_ The Wall Street Journal:

If block grants catch on, the Trump administration could be successful in achieving the Medicaid changes congressional Republicans were unable to in their failed 2017 repeal of the ACA, also known as Obamacare. Tennessee’s proposal released Tuesday would be submitted to the Trump administration in November following a public comment period.

Under Tennessee’s draft proposal, the state would get a lump sum based on projected Medicaid costs. The grant would be adjusted each year for inflation. The federal government would increase its funding on a per capita basis when Medicaid enrollment eclipses the number used to calculate the state’s initial grant amount.