The Healthy Indiana Program was established by Governor Mitch Daniels to provide affordable and comprehensive health insurance to lower income Hoosiers. Using a combination of tobacco taxes and Medicaid dollars, it serves more than 42,000 Hoosiers. The plan requires enrollees to contribute up to 5% of their gross income to a POWER account, which is used to pay for medical expenses. The state covers the balance needed to raise the account to $1,100. People who use preventive services get a reduced premium and get to carry over a portion of the POWER account from one year to the next. The average premium is $130
Unfortunately, Governor Daniels had to freeze HIP enrollment in March 2010 because under Obamacare HIP enrollees will have to go into Medicaid.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told an audience at the Indiana University School of Medicine on May 14, 2010 that the health reform law didn't outlaw Healthy Indiana. "There's no change that [health reform] made that would make this waiver program difficult to pursue in the future."
PS The federal waiver authorizing Healthy Indiana expires at the end of 2012.
PPS In November of 2011, Sebelius rejected Indiana’s request to keep Healthy Indiana and exempt it from Obamacare.
About 25,000 adults without children have been on a waiting list for the program, while adults with kids are still being enrolled.
Unless Obamacare is overturned or dramatically reformed, they will still be waiting. Their only choice will be Medicaid. As the video on Healthy Indiana shows, for those who rely on HIP for coverage, that’s not a choice at all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoWothG4b2Y
Obamacare To Healthy Indiana:Drop Dead
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