That's according to a new evaluation of the Healthy Indiana Plan, a program designed by Indiana health care consultant Seema Verma, who — as the new administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — can now grant other states permission to impose similar monthly fees.
Opponents say the department of Health and Human Services should not allow other states to do this, because this study and other research has shown requiring poor people to pay is a barrier to care.
House Republicans passed a bill to repeal and replace the Obama-era Affordable Care Act this past week, but its future remains uncertain. If progress on a health care plan stagnates, the Trump administration will focus even more on trying to make changes through state waivers — and Verma, along with HHS Secretary Tom Price, already have told states they want to be as permissive as possible.
Yet critics of Indiana’s program said the new evaluation shows Indiana’s complicated program doesn’t work well and shouldn’t be used as a model for other states. “It’s time to really step back and think about this as an experiment and whether it’s successful,” said Judy Solomon, vice president for health policy at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
