Advocates worried about HIP Medicaid expansion

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Health care lobbyists say the state's Healthy Indiana Plan will not provide enough coverage for poor residents without some changes.

Lobbyists for the Indiana branch of the AARP and other advocates told state officials Friday that coverage limits in the state-run plan and the potential to cap enrollment would lead to inadequate coverage for low-income residents.

The state held the second of two public hearings on the proposal this week. Gov. Mike Pence is resubmitting a 2011 request that the Healthy Indiana Plan be used to expand Medicaid for residents earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.

Pence filed the request with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last month. But federal officials returned the incomplete application because the state had not yet held public hearings.