More than 760,000 Hoosiers will benefit from the removal of burdensome and unnecessary barriers to receiving care through the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP), part of Indiana’s Medicaid programs.
This hard fought victory follows five years of organizing by Hoosier Action in opposition to these unnecessary rules, with support from attorneys at the Indiana Justice Project and National Health Law Program.
“There was always a reason for you to suddenly not have health care,” said Eva Bell, a mother of three and Hoosier Action member in in Clark County, speaking to the Indiana Capital Chronicle. “It was always a toss-up on whether — when we went to the doctor — whether we had Medicaid or not.”
While 1.98 million lower-income Hoosiers benefit from Medicaid, many were denied care by the seemingly haphazard set rules imposed by the Republican-controlled state’s Family and Social Services Administration, which put access to health care at risk.
The policies which were overturned include the 2019 “Gateway to Work” paperwork requirements as well as forcing patients to make premium-like payments to so-called POWER Accounts, the lack of 3-months retroactive coverage, and a waiver of non-emergency medical transportation.