Hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers have enrolled in Governor Pence's healthcare program HIP 2.0 since rollout began earlier this year. The state wants more people to sign up, launching an ad campaign Monday to promote the program.
Halfway through its first year, more than 283,000 Hoosiers are participating in HIP 2.0.
And Family and Social Services Administration spokesman Jim Gavin says so far, enrollment has largely been achieved through word of mouth.
"We've engaged our stakeholders – this is going back to summer of 2014 – and a lot of them are working side-by-side with clients and members that they know of who are eligible for the Healthy Indiana Plan," Gavin says.
The state projects that about 356 thousand Hoosiers will be enrolled by the end of the year, but Gavin says he thinks that number will go up as people start to hear messages like this:
Hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers want to take care of themselves and be there for their loved ones. Now our hard-working families, friends and neighbors have an option to their lives. The new Healthy Indiana Plan, or HIP 2.0.
The ad campaign, which runs through the end of the year, will cost the state a little more than $1 million.