Daniels vs Obamacare: Why Wyden-Brown Will Not Work
Conn Carroll /
In 2007, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) passed the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) which helps Hoosiers who do not qualify for Medicaid to enroll in individual health-savings accounts. The program was so popular that the state had to suspend enrollment (because of federal regulations) a number of times. Today there are about 45,000 Hoosiers enrolled in the plan. It is a model of state-based patient-centered health care reform. But now Obamacare is, of course, threatening to destroy this system. The Evansville Courier & Press reports:
Gov. Mitch Daniels wants to use the Healthy Indiana Plan as a vehicle to deliver coverage to Hoosiers who in 2014 will become eligible for Medicaid under the new federal health care law.
He has asked federal officials whether that will be possible. Daniels directed a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and said he wants an answer by the end of February. Indications thus far from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are that the governor’s request is likely to be denied.