A Republican priority bill that toughens eligibility and verification rules for Medicaid and food assistance programs advanced from the Indiana House on Monday despite repeated warnings from Democrats that the changes would add “bureaucratic” hurdles and push eligible Hoosiers out of coverage.
Senate Bill 1 passed in a 62-31 vote, with Democrats opposed along with four Republicans: Becky Cash of Zionsville, Ed Clere of New Albany, Dave Hall of Norman and Ben Smaltz of Auburn. It needs one final Senate vote before going to the governor.
A top 2026 priority for Senate Republicans, the measure seeks to tighten income, asset and work requirements for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, while also expanding verification of immigration status and directing state agencies to share certain information with federal authorities when eligibility can’t be confirmed.
House sponsor Rep. Brad Barrett, R-Richmond, framed the proposal as a long-running effort to rein in costs and preserve programs for those who qualify, calling it “the genesis of HIP 3.0” — a reference to the Healthy Indiana Plan, the state’s Medicaid expansion program — and a continuation of changes lawmakers have made to Indiana’s Medicaid system over the last decade.
Some say not enough. Some say too far. In reality, I look at this as an effort to maintain the sustainability of a program.Rep. Brad Barrett, R-Richmond
“In reality, I look at this as an effort to maintain the sustainability of a program that’s been expanded and has been, in fact, quite lucrative in taking care of patients in this arena,” Barrett said. “This is an effort to rein that back in, so that we have a product that is sustainable for the future of the patients that fall within these categories.”
He pointed to research showing Indiana’s average Medicaid spending per patient exceeds that of neighboring states and argued that growth in the program can’t be supported.
“We have a system that we have created for the poor and needy in our community, and we want that system to be sustainable,” Barrett said. “Some say not enough. Some say too far. In reality, I look at this as an effort to maintain the sustainability of a program.”
Tighter rules for public assistance programs
Senate Bill 1, authored by Sen. Chris Garten, R-Charlestown, builds on legislation from last year by eliminating Indiana’s use of expanded categorical eligibility for SNAP, lowering asset limits, codifying the ban on purchasing candy and soft drinks with SNAP benefits and increasing how often recipients must prove they still qualify.
The bill also requires more frequent Medicaid redeterminations, shortens eligibility periods under HIP, adds new work-requirement documentation rules — including a requirement that conditions be met in the three months before an individual applies — and directs Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration to verify immigration status for both Medicaid and SNAP applicants.
If that status can’t be verified, the agency must submit identifying and eligibility-related information about the individual to the federal government.
Barrett emphasized that changes made in the House process “softened” some requirements, like raising the dependent-care exemption age from six to 14, switching student exemptions from full-time to half-time status and allowing workers to meet job requirements over a month instead of weekly.
“We’ve added some flexibility,” Barrett said. “There’s a lot of moving pieces to this bill.”
Democrats, however, warned that those changes don’t offset what they see as new barriers that will push eligible Hoosiers out of coverage.
Rep. Robin Shackleford, D-Indianapolis, described struggling to qualify for food assistance as a college student working multiple low-wage jobs with inconsistent hours.
“I could never get a full 20 hours a week,” she said. “When I went to apply for food stamps, they wanted us to have 20 hours on at least two paychecks, and I could not get that consistently because of the lack of work — not of my lack of will — but the resources and the work were not there.”
Shackleford said her experience should raise alarms about Senate Bill 1’s work-requirement documentation, as well as its reduction of SNAP asset limits. The change, she argued, penalizes low-income families for trying to build modest savings, rather than encouraging financial stability and independence.
“Usually, when people are applying for Medicaid, they need help. That means that they either have lost their job, they’ve come down with an illness, or their work hours have been reduced,” Shackleford said, adding that she hopes “fixes” will come in a conference committee. “I understand the need for us to reduce Medicaid. I understand the need to reduce SNAP because of budget constraints, but some of these things I think we need to fix before the bill moves forward.”
‘Less money helping people’
Rep. Greg Porter, D-Indianapolis, told colleagues that Democrats and Republicans approach Medicaid from fundamentally different perspectives. He, too, argued that the bill “needs more work.”
“If you don’t have your health you don’t have anything. You could be a multimillionaire, but if you don’t have good health care, you don’t have a lot,” Porter said Monday. “As a result of this bill, there will be Hoosiers that will lose coverage — and then we’ll be back next year, trying to figure it out. By that time, I’m quite sure someone would not be around because of what we did.”
The same concern was echoed by Rep. Carey Hamilton, D-Indianapolis, who said lawmakers were reversing past decisions to allow low-income families to keep modest savings.
“I am also just disappointed that we are spending more money on bureaucracy and less money helping people,” Hamilton said. “If people don’t have access to basic nutrition and health care, it doesn’t matter what other hands we give them up.”
Supporters, however, countered that Medicaid’s share of the state budget has grown dramatically and that tighter oversight is overdue.
Rep. Matt Lehman, R-Berne, said the program has expanded far beyond its original scope, noting Medicaid consumed roughly 10% of the state budget a decade ago and now exceeds 20%.
During questioning, Rep. Mitch Gore, D-Indianapolis, additionally pressed Barrett on fraud. Barrett cited state and federal reviews that he said identified millions of dollars in improper payments and maintained that stronger reporting and verification requirements are justified.
Even so, House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta, D-Fort Wayne, cautioned that Senate Bill 1 could backfire.
“Programs like SNAP [and] Medicaid are a bridge to, frankly, better nutrition. We’re trying to keep folks healthier,” he said.
“I also find it very interesting that in a bill like this, [it] frankly adds administrative cost to taxpayers,” GiaQuinta continued. “It’s designed to be working to lower these rates and these Medicaid fraud cases. But frankly, the evidence really isn’t there that there’s enough fraud cases that’s going to really impact or lower any costs.”
Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.
