Indiana healthcare organizations are calling on the federal government to approve the state's Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0 as soon as possible. The groups say the program is critical to providing healthcare coverage to 350,000 uninsured Hoosiers.
Indiana wants to expand healthcare coverage using a modified version of its Healthy Indiana Plan known as HIP 2.0. It submitted a waiver request to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, earlier this year.
Groups such as the Indiana State Medical Association, AARP, Covering Kids and Families, and the Primary Health Care Association are urging CMS to give Indiana its stamp of approval. Indiana Council of Community Mental Health Centers CEO Matt Brooks says HIP 2.0 can improve addiction treatment and save the state money.
"That makes them more productive in the workforce; that gets them out of the emergency room," Brooks says. "That gets them out our county jails; that gets them out of our state prisons."
Indiana Hospital Association president Doug Leonard says with September nearly over and no answer on approval, it's unlikely HIP 2.0 will be rolled out by January 1st.
"But there's nothing magic about the year-end; it can start February 1 or March 1," Leonard says. "So whenever it's approved, we're going to work with the state to roll out enrollment efforts all over to try to get those 350 thousand people enrolled."
Leonard says expanding health care coverage is vital to reducing the costs of uncompensated care to hospitals. He says that's particularly damaging to rural hospitals, which are shuttering services such as obstetrical care just to stay open.