Blog
Sen. Deery Shares Update
| Protecting Medicaid for Hoosiers in Need Indiana’s Medicaid program helps Hoosiers who are low-income, disabled or sick get the medical care they need. It’s an important program, but about 10 years ago, it was restructured and expanded in a way that aggravated already rising costs. For example, in just the last four years, the cost of Medicaid grew by $5 billion. Expenses have been rising so fast that it has endangered the stability of the program and began consuming the dollars available to support other priorities like education and infrastructure. This trend was unsustainable, and the General Assembly needed to aggressively act to save the program and the entirety of the state’s budget. The first step was a new law I supported that will get Medicaid spending under control and return it to a more fiscally responsible program as it was before the restructuring. Senate Enrolled Act 2 requires the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration to gather information from state and federal agencies to verify whenever individuals are eligible for Medicaid, which will help find and eliminate waste, fraud and abuse within the program. SEA 2 also enacts common-sense reforms to the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) by including work or volunteer requirements of 20 hours or more per week for able-bodied, working-age adults. While Washington, D.C. continues to add to our national debt, here in Indiana we balance our state budgets. That’s why we must operate the state’s Medicaid program with fiscal integrity – so it remains available for those who truly need it. |