A federal judge has pledged a "speedy resolution" to a 13-year-old class-action lawsuit over whether Tennessee is providing adequate medical and dental care to 750,000 children enrolled in TennCare, the state's Medicaid program, according to a story in the Tennessean.
The lawsuit, originally filed in 1998, claimed that children weren't getting access to regular medical and dental checkups or necessary medical care under TennCare.
That same year, the state, the federal court in Nashville, and children's lawyers settled the case with a consent decree that required the state to ensure that 80% of children on TennCare get regular checkups and medical and dental care. For children in state custody, the agreement required the state to guarantee that 100% of those kids get regular checkups and medical care.
State lawyers sought to dismiss the case in 2006, arguing that TennCare was complying with the consent decree. But lawyers for the opposing side said the state wasn't in compliance, and the case has been stalled ever since, the Tennessean reported.
On March 2, Senior Judge Thomas Wiseman Jr. -- the third and latest judge assigned to the case in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee -- said at a hearing that he is impatient with delays.
If attorneys for both sides can't agree on how the case will proceed, Wiseman said he was inclined to void parts of the 1998 agreement, according to the Tennessean. A trial on unresolved issues could then start in as few as two weeks.
