Tennessee health care lottery

[liberal N proud]

Tennessee Race for Medicaid: Dial Fast and Try, Try Again

NASHVILLE — Two nights a year, Tennessee holds a health care lottery of sorts, giving the medically desperate a chance to get help.

State residents who have high medical bills but would not normally qualify for Medicaid, the government health care program for the poor, can call a state phone line and request an application. But the window is tight — the line shuts down after 2,500 calls, typically within an hour — and the demand is so high that it is difficult to get through.

There are other hurdles, too. Applicants have to be elderly, blind, disabled or the “caretaker relative” of a child who qualifies for Medicaid, known here as TennCare. Their medical debt has to be high enough that if they paid it, their income would fall below a certain threshold. Not many people end up qualifying, but that does not stop thousands from trying.

“It’s like the Oklahoma land rush for an hour,” said Russell Overby, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society in Nashville. “We encourage people to use multiple phones and to dial and dial and dial.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/us/tennessee-holds-health-care-lottery-for-the-poor.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130325&_r=0

[southernyankeebelle]

1. In the land of plenty you'd think this was a better way.

[BlueJazz]

2. "I'm happy to report that your request is almost approved But you have to do just one last thing."

"Have you ever watched mountain climbers that put on those "Glide Suits" and jump off the side of a cliff ??"

[Scuba]

3. Sounds like a good plan ...

... to impose on lobbyists.