COMMENTARY: Pence waiting/hoping for Affordable Care Act repeal

His comments follow two separate federal appeals courts’ rulings that differed on whether subsidies that help people afford their premiums should be made available in Indiana and other states that rely on the federal exchange. The rulings likely indicate the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually take up the issue of the subsidies.

The issue threatens to put a new wrinkle in the administration of the Affordable Care Act in the Evansville area. Kentucky established its own exchange, so the state’s residents don’t face looming questions on whether their subsidies remain available. In Indiana, the future of the subsidies will likely fall to the court’s interpretation of the law.

Pence said the competing rules should lead Congress to reconsider health care reform on the federal level.

“I stand by our decision not to establish a state-based exchange in Indiana,” Pence said, arguing that a number of states that created their own exchanges have run up considerable costs.

“My hope is that sometime in the near future we will elect the kind of leadership that will repeal Obamacare and start over with health care reform that puts patients first but also gives states the kind of flexibility to create programs that will respect the dignity and create opportunity for people to provide for themselves and their families like the Healthy Indiana Plan does,” Pence said.

Pence will travel to Washington D.C. this week to meet with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Mathews Burwell over his proposal to expand a revamped Healthy Indiana Plan to hundreds of thousands of more Hoosiers.

Pence said he’s glad the federal government provided the state a waiver to run the current Healthy Indiana Plan through the end of the year, but it’s clear there’s a greater need.

Pence’s expansion proposal taps into Medicaid dollars made possible through the Affordable Care Act and targets the same adult population as a traditional Medicaid expansion. However, Indiana’s plan requires Hoosiers who earn more to contribute to a health savings account. Those earning less wouldn’t have to make monthly contributions, but would face copays and reduced health benefits.

Back in Indianapolis, a legislative committee intends to study whether Indiana should implement a state-based exchange before the Indiana General Assembly returns in 2015. The Interim Study Committee on Fiscal Policy also will study the operation of the federal exchange in Indiana. That committee will first meet on Aug. 28, though no agenda has been set.