State seeks extension of Healthy Indiana Plan
INDIANAPOLIS (Inside INdiana Business) — The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration has applied for a 10-year extension of the Healthy Indiana Plan. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services notified the state its preliminary review is complete and now a 30-day public comment period begins.
The state’s Medicaid alternative for low-income, non-disabled adults was launched in 2008 and expanded in 2015 to cover any eligible adult as an alternative to Medicaid expansion. Over 400,000 Hoosiers are provided health coverage through the program, which is usually renewed every 3-4 years. Indiana is seeking a 10-year waiver to allow staff to spend more time trying to improve HIP to meet goals like helping members direct their own health coverage.
“We are focused on the renewal of our existing waiver, which already contains many of the elements CMS recently encouraged states to pursue,” said Jennifer Sullivan, M.D., M.P.H., FSSA secretary. “While we’re excited that the recently announced program may help other states discover new avenues for health reform within their Medicaid programs, we feel the model we already have is the right one for Indiana.”
The state is also asking for more flexibility concerning contributions and copayments and seeking to extend newer aspects of HIP, such as substance abuse disorder treatment and serious mental illness. FSSA also filed an application to launch a new program to complement HIP, the HIP Workforce Bridge, which is designed to help members financially as they transition from employer insurance to other coverage.
You can offer comments at this link, which will be posted for a 30-day public comment period.