CORRECTION:
An earlier version of this story said TennCare will help people who qualify under Standard Spend Down to pay off their medical debt. That’s only true of debts accrued after the application date.
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TennCare will soon take another round of applications from people whose medical bills overshadow much of their income. The program, known as Standard Spend Down, is in high demand. It accepts 2,500 applications at a time, and typically gets that many in the first hour.
This will be the third opening to enroll in Standard Spend Down since the program began almost a year ago. It provides TennCare coverage to poor people with big medical bills if they’re disabled, over 65, blind, or caring for a child that qualifies for Medicaid.
Enrollment is by telephone, and some 200 state operators are on hand when the calls begin flooding in. Melissa Fletcher worked the call center during the last opening for applications. She says the work is fast, but rewarding.
“I had a caller last time who was a widow, and she was saying that she didn’t have anybody to help her. Her husband had passed and she really couldn’t afford to get medical coverage on her own… So when I hear stories like that, it touches the heart, but to know that we can do something for them, that even goes further.”
Enrollment opens at 6 p.m. Monday, September 12th at 1-866-358-3230.
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