The Division of TennCare made its case for funding increases to Gov. Bill Lee and his advisers in a Wednesday budget hearing.
In total, TennCare is asking for increases of $185.49 million in recurring funds and $64.58 million in non-recurring funds, in addition to $485.26 million coming from the federal government. This represents an overall budget increase of $735 million. TennCare’s full budget for fiscal year 2023-24 was $15.4 billion.
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