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<\/a><\/p>\nOn two nights each year, Tennessee holds a health care lottery, giving the medically desperate a chance to receive help.<\/p>\n
State residents with high medical bills that would not typically qualify for Medicaid<\/strong> can call a state phone line and request an application. But it\u2019s not easy — the line shuts down after 2,500 calls, typically within an hour — and with such a strong demand it is difficult to get through.<\/p>\n (Related: Medicaid expansion in trouble in Mich. Legislature<\/a>)<\/p>\n Increasing the difficulty, applicants must be elderly, blind, disabled or the \u201ccaretaker relative\u201d of a child who qualifies for Medicaid<\/strong>, known in Tennessee as TennCare<\/strong>. Their medical debt must be high enough that if paid, their income would fall below a certain threshold.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like the Oklahoma land rush for an hour,\u201d said Russell Overby, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society in Nashville. \u201cWe encourage people to use multiple phones and to dial and (more…)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On two nights each year, Tennessee holds a health care lottery, giving the medically desperate a chance to receive help. State residents with high medical bills that would not typically qualify for Medicaid can call a state phone line and…<\/span><\/p>\n