Gov. Bill Haslam’s proposal to extend health coverage to 280,000 low-income Tennesseans has failed during a special legislative session. The Senate Health Committee defeated the Republican governor’s Insure Tennessee plan on a 7-4 vote. Haslam spent 21 months negotiating a special deal for Tennessee that included market-based elements like vouchers to buy private insurance, co-pays and assurances that the state could pull out of the deal if it ended up being more expensive than expected. Meanwhile, Alan Levine, Mountain States Health Alliance President and CEO, said in a statement they are obviously disappointed by the outcome since they had hoped the legislature would see the benefit of returning one billion dollars annually to Tennessee That Tennesseans Are Paying In Federal Taxes, And Which Are Now Going To Places Like California And New York.