TennCare can seek savings by reviewing eligibility of plaintiffs in old lawsuit

A federal judge has ruled that TennCare officials can for the first time in more than 20 years begin reviewing the eligibility of about 150,000 people who are the subject of a decades-old lawsuit. The ruling comes the day after TennCare officials asked to be released from the terms of a 1987 injunction that forbade Tennessee from reviewing eligibility of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The state sought an expedited ruling partly in an effort to save money amid a major budget crunch. TennCare faces budget cuts of 15% or more this year in the face of a revenue shortfall of as much as a billion dollars.