Tennessee House adopts bill barring denial of care to TennCare patients over vaccine choice

The Tennessee House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday that bars health-care providers who accept TennCare from refusing treatment to patients because they are unvaccinated, sponsor Representative Charlie Carringer said on the House floor.

The legislation, carried in the House as a substitute to Senate Bill 13-89 (originally presented as House Bill 638), was introduced by Representative Carringer as a response to reports of medical discrimination against families who decline vaccines. Carringer said the measure is modeled on Texas House Bill 44 (2023) and is limited in scope to TennCare enrollees.

Supporters said the bill will preserve access to care for low-income patients who rely on TennCare and create space for patient–provider conversations about vaccination. Representative Carringer told colleagues that amendments added religious and moral-belief exemptions and carve-outs for transplant patients, oncology patients and others who are immunocompromised.

Opponents raised practical concerns about patient and public safety. Representative Shaw asked how clinics would handle situations in which one patient refuses a recommended vaccine while receiving treatment and another patient in the same waiting room is vulnerable; Representative Todd pressed whether clinics that adopt policies barring unvaccinated patients from waiting rooms could lose TennCare payments. Representative Salinas and Representative Pearson said the bill risks harming herd immunity and public health, arguing the state should not undercut long-standing vaccination programs.

Representative Carringer said the bill applies only to TennCare patients and that the bill’s sponsors worked with nurses’ associations to ensure providers who take TennCare would be covered under the amendment. Chairman Terry of the House Health Committee moved to adopt the committee amendment and it was adopted on the floor.

The House passed the bill on third and final consideration as Senate Bill 13-89 (the House had first substituted the Senate language). The final passage was announced on the floor at the end of the calendar item.

Why it matters: The bill centers on low-income Tennesseans who rely on TennCare for medical care and on how the state balances patient access with infection-control questions raised by some members. Supporters framed the law as protecting access and conversation between physicians and patients; opponents said it could undermine herd immunity and healthcare safety.

What’s next: The House passed the measure as the companion to Senate Bill 13-89; the bill will proceed consistent with the usual enrollment and transmittal process between the two chambers.

Votes at a glance: The transcript records adoption of a House Health Committee amendment and the final passage of Senate Bill 13-89 (substituted for HB 638). The transcript shows the House moved and renewed the motion to pass and later recorded passage. The vote tally for final passage is recorded in the transcript as passed, but the roll-call counts were not given clearly in the floor-record excerpt.

Direct quotes (selected): "This is only for those patients who are on TennCare," Representative Carringer said while explaining the bill and amendments. Representative Salinas said: "Infectious diseases don't care if you're a TennCare patient or if you're not a TennCare patient." Representative Pearson said: "Bills like this are going to continue to create this harm mostly to children."