This week, my U.S. House Budget Committee colleagues and I introduced a federal budget resolution for fiscal year 2014. Our budget is a responsible plan that stops spending money and balances in 10 years — largely through making key reforms to drivers of our debt like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
While most of the debate over the budget focuses on federal issues and programs, there is one important reform that I have worked to include in the budget which is of particular importance to Indiana.
Since taking office in January, Gov. Pence’s administration has been seeking permission from the federal government to expand our successful Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) to provide health care to more needy Hoosiers. However, because of federal law, in particular ObamaCare, Indiana must get explicit permission from the Obama administration before it can provide this crucial lifeline to Hoosiers. To date, the Obama administration has not provided this permission.
The House budget would provide an innovative solution to this standoff between Indiana and the federal government. Inside the House budget is a provision which reforms Medicaid by providing states with total flexibility to run their individual Medicaid plans as they see fit. In Indiana this would mean that our state could immediately expand HIP and continue to tailor it to fit the needs of Hoosiers.
Medicaid’s results over the past several decades have made it clear that the Washington-knows-best system of today does not work. All across America, families on Medicaid struggle to even find a doctor who will see them. And when they do find a doctor, they often receive lesser care from the overtaxed doctors who are swamped with Medicaid patients. For example, a 2010 study suggested that surgical patients on Medicaid were 13 percent more likely to die than those without health insurance at all.
At the same time, doctors who do treat Medicaid patients are chronically underpaid compared with their colleagues, who make nearly 60 percent more money treating an American on private health insurance than they do treating an American on Medicaid.
What do we get for a national program that does not cover those in need, and drives the doctors who try out of the field? We get deficits as far as the eye can see. Medicaid, with its burdensome federal mandates and chronically low federal reimbursement rates for doctors, is driving states to the brink of bankruptcy.
That is why Indiana, under Gov. Daniels and now under Gov. Pence, created and now seeks to expand HIP. Unfortunately the Obama administration continues to insist on sticking with Medicaid. In fact, under Obamacare, the number of Americans on Medicaid will dramatically increase.
Instead of shoving millions more Americans into a failing program, like Obamacare does, we should look at the reforms that are working on the ground. Indiana and Rhode Island are great examples. Through HIP, we have demonstrated how health benefits can be extended to low-income Americans without increasing costs. Similarly, Rhode Island accepted spending caps on its Medicaid program for five years and transitioned to a managed care system, saving the state millions of dollars.
It’s time to clear out the red tape and bureaucracy in Washington that is preventing our state from achieving the full reform potential of HIP. It’s time to ensure that other states have the same flexibility to offer their own unique solutions to the uninsured. And it’s time to reform the broken Medicaid system that we know — which is piling trillions of dollar of debt on future generations — and allow innovative, efficient solutions to drive down costs and improve the quality of care for Hoosiers and for all Americans.
Before winning his congressional seat as a Republican in 2010, Rokita served two terms as Indiana’s secretary of state.
Flashpoint
FLASHPOINT: House budget offers Medicaid solution for Indiana
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FLASHPOINT: Again in 2013 General Assembly, middle class generally ignored
Last year, the people of Indiana entrusted the Republican Party with some of their most precious possessions.
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FLASHPOINT: Indiana lawmakers reinforced school safety mechanisms
Nothing is more important to me than the safety of my children. Every parent has felt that instant, apprehensive rush when their child plays too close to the street or falls down while playing soccer and it is our responsibility as parents to implement every safety mechanism we can muster to protect our kids.
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FLASHPOINT: Lessons from the legacy media — get it right, first
Enough mistakes and maybe we’ll learn: When in doubt, leave it out.
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FLASHPOINT: Hoosiers got steady hand in recent session
As the General Assembly began its work last November, as Speaker of the House, I pledged a renewed spirit of bipartisanship with legislators working together to solve our state’s most pressing challenges. As this year’s legislative session concludes, representatives from throughout the state — Republican and Democrat — have joined together to address those issues at the forefront of Hoosier minds: maintaining our state’s fiscal integrity, spurring job creation and expanding education opportunities for every Hoosier family.
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FLASHPOINT: Time has arrived for overhaul of TV news
Former FCC Chairman Alfred Sikes gave an address in 1992 in which he claimed television news was too superficial and too focused on visuals.
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FLASHPOINT: Fiscal cliff, Obamacare have already raised taxes enough
Our history is rich with stories of people who have immigrated to the United States for a chance at the American Dream. The American Dream, in its truest form, is the opportunity to achieve success by working hard and playing by the rules; to make it on your own and to say, “I earned this.”
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FLASHPOINT: Expanding Medicaid coverage makes sense for Indiana
Since last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act effectively gave states the option to expand Medicaid, policymakers across the country have debated if and how to extend health programs to millions of uninsured Americans.
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FLASHPOINT: Improve public education, stop experimenting with it
In January, the four of us who serve as the Democrats on the House Education Committee outlined our hopes for the 2013 session of the Indiana General Assembly, particularly in joining with Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz to offer common sense solutions to improve the quality of education for our children. With the halfway point of this session past us, we remain optimistic that positive steps can be taken … but that optimism is tempered by the reality that education policies are being directed by a legislative majority that has a radically different agenda.
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Healthcare law anniversary no reason for celebration
March 23 marked three years since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law, yet this is not an anniversary that deserves celebration.
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FLASHPOINT: Defending state’s authority is attorney general’s obligation
The law of the land recognizes the authority of states to license marriage.
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FLASHPOINT: Stability key for state’s future
Hoosiers have the unique luxury of being the fiscal envy of the nation due to the sound fiscal policies of the last eight years.
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FLASHPOINT: House budget offers Medicaid solution for Indiana
This week, my U.S. House Budget Committee colleagues and I introduced a federal budget resolution for fiscal year 2014. Our budget is a responsible plan that stops spending money and balances in 10 years — largely through making key reforms to drivers of our debt like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
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FLASHPOINT: Problem gambling in Indiana: A new understanding of community concern
The week of March 3 was designated as National Problem Gambling Awareness Week.
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FLASHPOINT: Eastern time in Indiana defies common sense
Nobody complains more than Hoosiers about changing their clocks. And there’s a valid reason — daylight-savings time in Indiana’s Eastern Time Zone is painful.
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Praying for civil resolution to debate over gun control
Guns are lively ammunition for passionate debate these days.
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FLASHPOINT: It’s not too late to expand health services
This week, state leaders euthanized the biggest, boldest Hoosier jobs proposal of the 2013 session of the Indiana General Assembly.
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FLASHPOINT: You can’t go back again — and that’s OK
Our progressive colleagues have been telling us for years that the 1950s were a horrid time.
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FLASHPOINT: The fierce urgency of now — nation needs to protect youth
The alcohol-fueled alleged serial rape of a 16-year-old Ohio girl by two of her similarly impaired classmates — not to mention the drunken videotaped commentary of others — points yet again to the imperative that adult America renews its commitment to address as a true national community those issues that most threaten the health, safety and forward development of youth.
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FLASHPOINT: A pastor speaks out against Sullivan’s ‘traditional prom’
I am a pastor in Sullivan, Ind., and I am outraged.
Recently, two young students applied to walk the Grand March together in the school prom in Sullivan. -
FLASHPOINT: 0wning firearms is a First Amendment exercise, too
Following the hysteria generated by gun prohibitionists in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, a nationwide rush on gun stores began as citizens bought semiautomatic modern sporting rifles, handguns and ammunition, in effect “making a political statement” about proposals to ban such firearms.
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FLASHPOINT: Maintaining the priority
Recently a newspaper article has been written about a change in the by-laws of the Indiana High School Athletic Association which speaks directly to attempted undue influence exerted upon students below the level of grade nine and their parents.
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FLASHPOINT: The fairness of marriage
What is the current Indiana law concerning marriage? Our state defines marriage in a singular way — between a man and a woman.
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FLASHPOINT: We ask state legislators to abide by their oath of office
All of us relish giving unsolicited advice to our elected representatives.
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FLASHPOINT: Mentoring is having major impact on public education
While managing local utility services, Mike Martin found a new way to energize his community, and students are starting to benefit.
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FLASHPOINT: Common Core standards should be common sense
Years ago, when state officials and education experts came together to create new model standards for schools, they probably never expected it to be controversial.
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FLASHPOINT: Milestone year for Rose-Hulman
The Rose-Hulman campus traditionally quiets down this time of year, yet for me I sense a renewed energy from the phenomenal year just closing.
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FLASHPOINT: ISU’s reasoning flawed in flight school planning
ISU and the taxpayers of Indiana and Vigo County are being led down a path of deception once again.
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FLASHPOINT: Incessant attacks on Christianity by the ACLU
It is obviously apparent that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is continuing its onslaught against religious freedom in the United States.
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FLASHPOINT: Americans deserve more value for their tax dollars
While traveling the 8th District and listening to fellow Hoosiers during my first term in Congress, I have reached the conclusion that many constituents do not believe they are getting value for the tax dollars that come out of their paychecks and are sent to Washington, D.C.
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FLASHPOINT: Election results finally in: Media reports were negative
Analysts who wonder why the citizenry is so down on politics can begin the discussion by looking at media coverage.
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FLASHPOINT: Again in 2013 General Assembly, middle class generally ignored
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