Bonnyman, Bredesen & Co.
Nashville attorney Gordon Bonnyman doesn’t make many “Most Powerful People” lists. He is not one to raise his voice. Ever the do-gooder, he takes the bus to work from his home off of Belmont Boulevard. But make no mistake, Bonnyman is formidable.
From his perch in the Tennessee Justice Center, a public interest law firm serving the needs of the poor, Bonnyman has for years set his eyes on ensuring TennCare does what it’s supposed to do—provide health care for the poor. An announcement last week not only indicated that Bonnyman is once again at the head of the table, but that the program itself is poised for progress.
Bonnyman and Gov. Phil Bredesen announced that they had settled a series of lawsuits the Tennessee Justice Center filed against TennCare. There were four cases dealing with how the state could appeal the denial of services to patients; how the state could remove people from the TennCare roles; whether TennCare could cover home health services for the disabled; and whether the state ought to provide certain treatment for children under the age of 21. The proposed settlements, negotiated between Bonnyman and the Bredesen administration—often the governor himself—must still be approved by a federal judge.
The announcement was more than the resolution of individual differences. It was a statement that TennCare may make it, and that the parties at the table are willing to give a little for the sake of the program. The settlement means Bonnyman had to make some concessions. In fact, total savings to TennCare because of the settlements are estimated to be about $300 million. Bonnyman probably wouldn’t have agreed to those concessions had he not had some assurances that his constituency of poor Tennesseans in need of medical services was going to be taken care of.
When Bredesen was elected governor, many thought that with his background in health care, he would move swiftly to revolutionize the program, tear it apart from top to bottom or perhaps even junk it altogether. Bredesen said it would take a year to get a feel for the massive health care program. What’s pretty obvious now is that Bredesen plans to stick with the beast, though some taming is probably in the cards.
Besides the money from the settlements, Bredesen announced several months ago that the federal government had agreed to reimburse the state approximately $180 million in TennCare funds that had been bottled up. (Helping secure those funds was Republican Senate majority leader Bill Frist.) Appearing on Teddy Bart’s Roundtable radio show last week, Bredesen said he was more encouraged than ever about the future of the program, saying TennCare is emerging in the national health care debate as a model for reform.
When TennCare was created during the McWherter administration, it meant that more Tennesseans could have access to health care. It was a wild gamble, and over the years it ran into its share of potholes. But with Bonnyman and Bredesen working in tandem, chances of survival are good. In 1993, when the Nashville Scene named Bonnyman “Nashvillian of the Year,” Bredesen said, “I don’t know of anyone who is more familiar with legal issues involving health care than Gordon Bonnyman.” It’s as true today as it was then.
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