Tennessee Seeks Federal Approval to Block Grant Medicaid Program

Tennessee could become the nation’s latest health-care legal battleground after the state formally asked the Trump administration to convert most of the federal funding for its state Medicaid program into a modified block grant.

If granted, the proposal, filed with the Health and Human Services Department on Nov. 20, would end Medicaid’s 54-year run as an open-ended entitlement program that provides health care for all eligible low-income and disabled applicants. Tennessee announced the broad outlines of the plan in September, but it’s official submission to the government offers far more detail.

Opponents fear the proposed waiver of Medicare rules ...