Pence and Washington D.C. at odds over Medicaid

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - This week Governor Mike Pence pushed his proposal for an alternative to Medicaid expansion in the state. His plan? To expand the Healthy Indiana plan. But, his push for the proposal could leave thousands of Hoosiers without health coverage.

It's one of the cornerstones of the affordable care act; expanding Medicaid in every state. But in Indiana the governor mike pence would rather expand a program that already covers thousands of Hoosiers, the Healthy Indiana plan.

"They don't cover vision services, dental services or maternity services in the Healthy Indiana program which are covered in traditional Medicaid,” Indiana State University health care expert Nathan Myers PhD said.
    
Sitting down with Dr. Myers, he explained to us why the governor would rather all Hoosiers be on the state created plan as opposed to Medicaid.

"There's still concern that in the future, this is going to lead to additional costs for the state,” he said.
    
So Pence requested that the federal government allow them to expand the Healthy Indiana plan to reach the 400,000 people eligible for Medicaid.    
    
However, this month Washington D.C. said that Pence had mishandled the situation and must hold fact finding hearings to collect information. For now the state will wait to find out the fate of the governor's proposal.
    
But here's the difficult part.
    
Time is running out for folks on the Healthy Indiana plan.

"If this new wave, this new request is ultimately not approved, the Healthy Indiana as it currently exists would expire in June of this year,” Myers said.
   
That would leave thousands of Hoosiers not covered at all; making this proposal's outcome more important for Indiana than most states.