INDIANAPOLIS | The Pence administration halted enrollment in the Healthy Indiana Plan Thursday because state funding for the program no longer can support additional participants.
Approximately 52,400 low-income Hoosiers are receiving health coverage through the high deductible, consumer-driven program funded by the state's 44-cents per pack tobacco tax and federal Medicaid dollars.
The program's capacity is an average of 45,000 participants per month for the entire calendar year, according to the Family and Social Services Administration.
FSSA spokesman Jim Gavin said if HIP enrollment drops significantly in coming months, the agency could again begin accepting applications.
However, Republican Gov. Mike Pence is expecting federal health officials soon will approve his Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0 proposal that could expand the program to some 400,000 Hoosiers.
"We remain hopeful for a timely response so that more low-income, uninsured Hoosiers will have the option of participating in the Healthy Indiana Plan," said Joe Moser, Indiana Medicaid director. "Unlike our current program, which has reached its peak capacity, HIP 2.0 would not be solely limited by the revenue from Indiana’s tobacco tax."
State Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, sponsored the original HIP proposal, which was signed into law by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2008.
HIP participants, who must earn less than 100 percent of the federal poverty level — $11,490 for an individual, $15,510 for a family of two or $23,550 for a family of four -- pay up to 5 percent of their incomes to a POWER account, similar to a health savings account, which is used to pay initial medical expenses.
Participant health care costs beyond $1,100 a year are shared by the state and federal government.
The program was slated to end in 2013 when HIP participants, and all Hoosiers earning less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level, would have become eligible for Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
However, Pence refused to expand Medicaid eligibility, so federal health officials gave the state permission to continue HIP through 2014.
Pence's HIP 2.0 proposal is an alternative to Medicaid expansion that embraces some of the consumer-driven principles of original HIP but is paid for with Obamacare tax dollars.