McNally Stalls Bill To Stop TennCare Coverage Of “Gender Affirming Treatments”
Image Credit: Lt. Gov. Randy McNally / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
Legislation to prevent TennCare from covering “gender-affirming” treatments is stalled in the Tennessee Legislature.
SB1339, originally filed by Senator Jack Johnson (R-Franklin-District 27) but now sponsored by Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge-District 5), was referred to the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee on February 6.
It has never been scheduled for that committee, and Adam Kleinheider, a spokesperson for McNally, says the Lt. Gov. has “no plans to run the bill in the Senate.”
On the House side, Speaker Cameron Sexton’s version of the bill (HB1215) was “placed behind the budget” on March 15th and has now been “Deferred to Special Calendar to be Published with Final Calendar in Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee.”
The legislation aimed to prohibit “any managed care organization that contracts with the bureau of TennCare to provide medical assistance from providing reimbursement or coverage for a medical procedure if the performance or administration of the procedure is for the purpose of enabling a person to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the person’s sex, or treating purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between a person’s sex and asserted identity.”
To summarize, the bill would have banned TennCare from being able to contract with any insurance companies that provide coverage or reimbursement for any kind of “gender-affirming” medical care.
It is unknown at this time whether the bill will be reintroduced and run at a later date.
At current, 2/3 of the cost of TennCare is funded by the federal government (i.e. tax dollars collected on the federal level). The remaining 1/3 of the cost is covered in the Tennessee State Budget (i.e. tax dollars collected at the state level).
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
Way too much of a coincidence that McNally now has this bill and it’s stalled. Maybe his boyfriend wants to transition.
Seems as if the fear is that the bill would lead to loss of Federal money, considering the amount of influence the far left has over the administration.