INDIANAPOLIS — Dozens of Hoosiers representing roughly 30 counties rallied at the Indiana Statehouse on Tuesday to protest proposed federal Medicaid cuts and Senate Bill 2—a Medicaid-focused bill rallygoers argued could remove at least 150,000 Hoosiers from the state’s Healthy Indiana Plan Program.
“SB 2 could be very harmful to people with disabilities,” Medicaid member Ashley Caveda said.
As a child, Caveda became paralyzed from the waist down following a car accident. Without Medicaid, Caveda said she would not be able to live independently.
“It’s literally saved my life,” Caveda said. “It provides me with in-home care; it allows me to have access to medications, my wheelchair…it’s not a handout; it’s helping people who are in need.”
Currently, Medicaid members have their eligibility checked each year. If SB 2 passes, those checks could take place every three months.
“We’re going to see people getting kicked off,” Tracey Hutchings-Goetz with Hoosier Action said. “We’re going to see people re-enrolling.”’
“There are going to be people who meet those requirements who lose coverage,” medical student Wade Catt said.
“It costs the state more money when people are sicker and using the hospital as a primary care clinic,” Dr. Allison Case with HealthNet said.
HIP member Susan Brackney said a computer error almost accidentally kicked her off the program at one point. Although the issue was ultimately resolved, Brackney said it should never have happened in the first place.
“If they want redetermination to happen, like, quarterly, or even monthly, they better get the process just about perfect first, don’t you think?” Brackney said.
On top of eligibility checks, advocates argue the bill could also drive up the cost of administering HIP.
“These provisions will not only lead to dangerous coverage loss for Hoosier families,” Hutchings-Goetz said. “They will also make Indiana’s Medicaid programs more inefficient and more expensive to run.”
The rallygoers sent 700 stories from Hoosier Medicaid members to the governor’s office in the hopes he will advocate on their behalf.
“We have come together to ensure the voice of the voiceless and the voice of those historically unheard are heard,” Pastor Ivan Douglas Hicks of First Baptist Church North of Indianapolis said. “We are appreciative for a governor that in many instances has determined that he is going to hear and he is going to listen.”
The bill still has yet to make its way back to the Senate—potentially facing a contentious back-and-forth between both chambers.
“We think there are legal issues with SB 2, and because the House made changes to the bill, it has to go back to a conference committee,” State Sen. Fady Qaddoura (D-Indianapolis) said.
“We’re heading into the fourth quarter,” Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith (R-Indiana) said. “That’s when the rubber’s really going to start meeting the road; there’s going to be a lot of language that changes…I’m really confident that the legislature and the Governor’s office are going to work together to make it the best possible outcome for all Hoosiers.”
The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to amend and vote on SB 2 on Wednesday.
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