Not calling down Medicaid bill a slap in the face to millions of Hoosiers

Dear neighbor:

Today, House Bill 1386, which would create certain standards for Medicaid services waivers, was not heard on the House floor on a second reading, meaning the bill is officially dead. Several House Democrats, including myself, intended to offer amendments to strengthen the bill.

I intended to offer two amendments: one to prevent diversions from the state Medicaid fund, and the other to mandate quarterly Medicaid assistance forecast updates to the oversight committee. Because the bill was not called down, these amendments could not be offered.

In December, we learned that a Republican budgeting error caused Medicaid to be underfunded by $1 billion. Now, Indiana Republicans are refusing to work to find a solution and to protect the Hoosiers who rely on Medicaid for health care access. Last year, Indiana reverted $525 million to the general fund, which makes up about half of the $1 billion shortfall. If Indiana had not reverted these Medicaid funds or used nearly $500 million from the Medicaid reserve to fund other programs and pad the surplus, this shortfall could have been avoided completely. Preventing further reversions from the Medicaid fund is a fiscally responsible way to ensure that Medicaid is sustainable in the future. This is a commonsense step to prevent a shortfall in the future, and Indiana Republicans made this step impossible by not making Medicaid a priority this session.

Over the next year, routine forecast updates to the Medicaid Oversight Committee will be vital to determine how providers and those who rely on Medicaid are faring after this accounting blunder. The Medicaid Oversight Committee will be the tip of the spear when it comes to legislating further unneeded cuts. Members of the committee need to be adequately informed as to the true status of our Medicaid program.

This bill not being called down for debate today is a slap in the face to the millions of Hoosiers who rely on Medicaid for health care access. They deserve transparency as to how we’re going to fix the problem and stabilize the program to ensure they don’t lose vital care. It’s unconscionable that, even after such a huge error threatened health care access to so many Hoosiers, Indiana Republicans decided to simply ignore the problem. We had an opportunity to strengthen Medicaid today, but a lack of leadership from House Republicans kept that from happening.

Sincerely,

Rep. Gregory W. Porter