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Health Indiana Plan gets 10-year extension

(IIB Photo)

INDIANAPOLIS (Inside INdiana Business) — Governor Eric Holcomb says Indiana has received approval to continue the Health Indiana Plan for another 10 years. The governor’s office says the approval will allow HIP, which is Indiana’s alternative to Medicaid expansion, to continue to offer coverage for more than 572,000 low-income Hoosiers.

Additionally, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has granted five-year extensions for some of the program’s newest components that provide treatment for substance use disorder and serious mental illness.

“(This) extension empowers more than half a million Hoosiers to continue receiving quality health care coverage from our innovative HIP program,” Holcomb said in a news release. “As a national model for a state-led, consumer-driven approach, HIP helps Hoosiers experience improved health outcomes and better lives.”

The Health Indiana Plan was created in 2007 under then-Governor Mitch Daniels and expanded in 2015 by then-Governor Mike Pence. Holcomb’s office says the latest approval is the first time the CMS has approved a state’s Medicaid waiver for a comprehensive health benefits program for a 10-year period.

“State innovation is an opportunity to test out ideas for delivering our ultimate goal of better health and well-being, and we encourage states to continue working with us, like Indiana has, to tailor their programs to their unique needs,” said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.

The news comes nearly five months after the CMS approved the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration’s HIP Workforce Bridge program, which is designed to transition HIP members as they return to the workforce and employer insurance or other coverage.