INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time in years, some Indiana Medicaid beneficiaries will start paying premiums again, a concern for advocates who say enrollees are unprepared and point to federal concerns about the rule’s effectiveness.
The state waived the cost-sharing requirement (POWER Accounts) in early 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, the state’s Medicaid rolls swelled as the federal government incentivized states not to cut off coverage during an unprecedented public health emergency.
But on July 1, Medicaid beneficiaries in the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP), Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and MedWorks will get a bill — many of them for the first time if they enrolled during or after the pandemic.
Adam Mueller, one such advocate, pointed to surveys finding beneficiaries didn’t understand the premiums, which can fluctuate monthly and sometimes are rolled over to other months. Even those who tried to do everything right could fall short due to an external factor. He said, “It’s scary that people could lose access to life-saving coverage over paperwork errors.”
Read the complete Whitney Downard article for the Indiana Capital Chronicle, here.
