INDIANA – Yesterday, June 27th, Chief Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled to permanently end burdensome and unnecessary barriers to coverage in the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP), one of Indiana’s Medicaid programs, following five-years of organizing by Hoosier Action in opposition to these unnecessary rules. These policies include the attempted introduction of “Gateway to Work” paperwork requirements in 2019, POWER Accounts Contributions (premiums), the lack of 3-month retroactive coverage, and a waiver of non-emergency medical transportation.
The lawsuit, Rose v. Becerra, was filed by attorneys from the Indiana Justice Project and the National Health Law Program on behalf of HIP members on September 23, 2019, to block Indiana’s Medicaid “Gateway to Work” waiver. Following the lawsuit, Indiana voluntarily suspended the “Gateway to Work” program pending the federal ruling, which was not reached until this week. Shortly after the pandemic began in 2020, Indiana voluntarily paused all POWER Account Contribution requirements as a part of the continuous coverage provision due to the public health emergency. On January 31st, 2024, the Indiana Justice Project and the National Health Law Program amended their original complaint. POWER Account Contributions were slated to return in just a few days on July 1st, 2024.
HIP Member and Hoosier Action leader Mulugeta Wolfe from New Albany was elated by the ruling, “I’m overjoyed . . . I just got back on HIP, and I was concerned about paying my POWER Account payment on time. It’s not even making the hard payment amount. It’s remembering. The HIP is important to me as someone working part-time here and part-time there and going to school, and HIP gives me that flexibility as a younger person to do the things I want to do with my life.”
Over the past five years, Hoosier Action has organized more than 15,000 Hoosiers to take coordinated action in their efforts to protect and improve Indiana’s Medicaid programs. They have collected more than 10,000 petition signatures, knocked on over 1,500 doors, held thousands of conversations, organized hundreds of community meetings, collected and submitted hundreds of public comments and testimonies cited in Judge Boasberg’s ruling, and coordinated dozens of meetings with federal, state, and elected officials including CMS and FSSA.
“This ruling is a testament to the power of community organizing,” said Kate Hess Pace, Hoosier Action’s Executive Director, “This victory was only possible because of tens of thousands of everyday Hoosiers who chose to stand up and take action to protect their own healthcare coverage and coverage for their neighbors. Eliminating these unnecessary rules will help improve HIP for the more than 760,000 Hoosier families who rely on the program to see the doctor, especially Black Hoosiers who are more likely to lose coverage because of these barriers. By coming together across race and place, we were able to ensure more Hoosier families can get and keep the healthcare we all deserve.”
