NASHVILLE (AP) - The federal government has declined a request to extend a waiver to keep the state-subsidized CoverTN health coverage plan beyond the end of the year.
Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's administration had sought the waiver to keep the program's 15,400 enrollees going through the first four months of the new year while the federal government works out problems with online health insurance marketplaces.
CoverTN premiums are split between the state, the employer and the worker. But the program's annual benefit limit of $25,000 runs afoul of coverage rules under the federal health care law.
New enrollment in the program had been halted in 2009, but businesses already participating in CoverTN had been allowed to continue to add workers.