Sixth Circuit Ends the Antics of the District Judge

As I think I mentioned before, I am working with a professor at Vanderbilt on a project centered on TennCare (Tennessee's Medicaid program). We are currently writing an article we hope to have published in a law review journal. In this article, we describe the events of TennCare, from the environment before it was created to the current time. In the midst of its twenty-year history, it has been plagued by on-going lawsuits between enrollees and the State. In this morning's Tennessean (the Nashville newspaper), Anita Wadhwani, who I met several days ago, broke the news that the Sixth Circuit has ordered Judge Haynes, the local federal district judge, off of the John B. case. (see http://www.tennessean.com/article/20101203/NEWS01/12030342/TennCare+judge+ordered+off+case+over+delays++language for her article). The State brought the claim that Judge Haynes was biased against them (and the article points out that this seems to be the strategy of choice for the large law firm representing the State) in this particular lawsuit dealing with medicaid coverage for children. After review, the Sixth Circuit wrote that the "appearance of justice [has been] compromised" by Judge Haynes, in part because of the "increasingly accusatory language" he used towards the State lawyers. In addition, the order described the TennCare case as one of "unproductive turmoil" and "without direction or deadlines for resolution of primary issues." Ouch.

Strangely, Haynes is already the second judge on this case: the first judge, Judge John Nixon recused himself after State attorneys alleged he had improper communications about the case outside of the courtroom. The other two remaining judges in the Middle District of Tennessee have already cited conflicts of interest with the case, and they cannot serve as adjudicator.

From what I have learned in my research project, TennCare and all of its lawsuits are a veritable cess pool of different factions grousing and grappling for who they represent. The State has to be concerned with the big picture: all of the State's citizens, all the the State's uninsured, and the money. The Enrollees' attorneys tend to focus on the extremes of the TennCare population, and they seem to expect that money will come from somewhere. The providers seek payment for their services, and such payment has so often been lacking. The insurance companies managing the health care process are looking at keeping their companies afloat and cutting costs while also providing people with healthcare. As we point out in the article we hope to publish, the different factions are repeatedly talking past one another and reacting in knee-jerk fashion to their perceptions of what the other parties are doing. Such a method is not wise for sustainability.