INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Healthy Indiana Plan, the state’s plan to cover uninsured resident adults between the ages of 19-64, went into effect January 1 with nearly 9,500 applications submitted.
HIP was developed to specifically address Indiana’s uninsured problem – the working poor who are not eligible for employer-sponsored healthcare, said Mitch Roob, Family and Social Services Administration secretary.
While the program is designed to cover as many as 130,000 individuals, Roob emphasized it is not an entitlement program. Using a sliding scale based on the federal poverty level, eligible participants contribute no more than 5 percent of their gross family income to their POWER Account. The state also contributes to the account.
The model was created to institutionalize personal and collective responsibility and force transparent pricing in healthcare, said Roob, as participants have a stake in shopping for healthcare services.
HIP’s goal is to increase the quality of human lives and the health status of Medicaid recipients. Through health status tracking, Roob anticipates seeing changes within 18 to 24 months.
“But for a few setbacks, the new HIP program will serve the well-known ‘income gap’ population with positive incentives, increased patient ownership and the comprehensive health benefits they need,” noted Diana Ernst, healthcare policy fellow at the Pacific Research Institute.
As for the setbacks, HIP will receive more than $1 billion in federal matching grants – money Ernst believes should not be spent on state programs. Likewise, she decries the cigarette tax as a way to fund the program.