During October and November 2011, we traveled over 2,000 miles to join discussions about the insurance exchange in Bristol, Blountville, Knoxville, Cookeville, Hendersonville, Nashville, Jackson and Memphis. We greatly appreciate the efforts of both the organizers and participants in all of these sessions -- and all of the feedback on the white paper. The State's overview of insurance exchanges presented at the beginning of the listening sessions is available here.

Summary of Stakeholder Responses to White Paper

We have summarized the feedback provided by stakeholders during the listening sessions and in their written comments to the white paper. This summary, available here, reflects the responses to the white paper provided by various constituencies (i.e., insurers, small employers, agents and brokers, health care providers, and consumers and advocates).

Frequently Asked Questions

We have posted frequency asked questions (FAQs) from the listening sessions here, and we will continue to update these FAQs (Updated: January 3, 2012).

"One Family, One Card Across Time" Concept

Stakeholders in Tennessee remain very concerned about the likely possibility in 2014 that members of one family may have each have different insurance cards -- and that certain members of the family will have to switch insurers if/when their household income changes. For example, a household of four could have four and possibly seven different insurance cards over the course of three months -- all because of the birth of a child and/or a change in household income. This level of "churning" among insurers may lead to interruptions in treatment and prove highly frustrating for families. To address these concerns, stakeholders suggested a promising "One Family, One Care Across Time" concept (which some describe as a "bridge" option). A summary of this concept is available here. Please feel free to share email your feedback on this idea to insurance.exchange@tn.gov.

Thank You to Co-Sponsors of Listening Sessions about the White Paper

We are grateful to the many volunteers and organizations that hosted one of the 12+ listening sessions across the state over the past two weeks. Special thanks to the following sponsoring organizations:

Bristol Chamber of Commerce, Cherokee Health Systems, Cookeville Regional Medical Center, Health Choice (MetroCare Physicians and Methodist Healthcare), Health Care 21, Healthy Memphis Common Table, Integrated Health Solutions Network, Interdenominational Ministerial Fellowship of Nashville, Jackson/West Tennessee Association of Health Underwriters, Johnson City Chamber of Commerce, Jonesborough Chamber of Commerce, Kingsport Chamber of Commerce, Knox County Health Department, Knoxville Chamber, Knoxville Health Underwriters Association, League of Women Voters of Nashville, Memphis Business Group on Health, Memphis Medical Society, Middle Tennessee Association of Health Underwriters, Mid-South Health Underwriters, Mountain States Health Alliance, Nashville Branch NAACP, Northeast State Community College Division of Nursing, Putnam County Chamber of Commerce, Skyline Medical Center, Society for Human Resource Management Upper-Cumberland Chapter, Summit Medical Group, Tennessee Health Care Campaign, Tennessee Tech University School of Business, Tennessee Tech University School of Nursing, TriCities Citizens for Improved Health Care, United Chambers of Sumner County, University of Memphis School of Public Health, University of Tennessee Center for Health Policy and Services Research., University of Tennessee College of Law, Urban League of Middle Tennessee, Washington County Chamber of Commerce, Wellmont Health System