Indiana

HIP faces deep cuts as Republicans hide behind Medicaid’s complexity | Opinion

Published

11 months ago

March 10, 2025

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HIP faces deep cuts as Republicans hide behind Medicaid’s complexity | Opinion

The logic is simple: If you can’t win on policy or public support, you try to win with semantics and confusion.

Jay Chaudhary
| Opinion Contributor

Even by government standards, Medicaid is notoriously complex — an intricate web of carve-outs, cross-subsidies, and shared state-federal financial responsibilities. I once heard the funding structure of a particular Indiana Medicaid program described as “a house of cards built on top of a shell game,” which feels like a fair description of Medicaid as a whole.

At the same time, Medicaid — especially Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare) — is widely popular. This puts conservatives seeking to cut the program in a bind: They must find a way to undermine it without directly attacking something voters support. The program’s bureaucratic complexity provides that opening.

President Trump and congressional Republicans have ruled out major structural changes to Medicaid, instead focusing on cutting more arcane and opaque features of the program, such as eliminating states’ ability to use provider taxes.

Provider taxes are levies imposed by states on health care providers to help cover Medicaid expansion costs. They are critical to funding Medicaid expansion in many states, including Indiana. The ability to impose these taxes is essential for maintaining state support of Medicaid expansion. To justify eliminating these arrangements, opponents have labeled them as waste, fraud or abuse, using loaded phrases like “money laundering” or “bribery.”

It is fair to critique provider taxes as bad public policy, that they are overly complex and/or create significant disincentives for fiscal restraint. However, these mechanisms are a legitimate exercise of state taxation power on actual commerce within state borders, not a nefarious backroom scheme to defraud taxpayers.

This push to end provider taxes is a prime example of using bureaucratic complexity as a smokescreen for deep cuts to the program. By framing it as a technical adjustment that merely enhances efficiency, rather than a direct funding reduction, Congress can obscure the real impact: jeopardizing Medicaid expansion and restricting access to care for millions of Americans.

The logic is simple: If you can’t win on policy or public support, you try to win with semantics and confusion.

Healthy Indiana Plan could reduce care for hundreds of thousands

Indiana’s version of the provider tax, the Hospital Assessment Fee, plays a crucial role in funding Medicaid by generating federal matching funds. This money is essential for maintaining hospital reimbursement rates and supporting the Healthy Indiana Plan, the state’s Medicaid expansion program under Obamacare. The HAF allows Indiana to sustain and expand access to care without relying entirely on state general fund dollars.

The HAF generates over $1 billion annually, bringing in additional federal money that hospitals rely on to care for Medicaid patients. With state lawmakers already concerned about rising Medicaid costs, finding an additional $1 billion to sustain HIP could be an insurmountable challenge.

Eliminating the provider tax may sound like a mild technocratic tweak, but in reality, it would gut Medicaid expansion, destabilize hospital finances, and reduce access to care for hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers. By branding these changes as a crackdown on “waste,” politicians can claim to be protecting taxpayers while sidestepping responsibility for the millions who could lose health care access.

A major threat to addiction services

Over the past decade, Indiana has significantly expanded access to addiction treatment, including residential care, medication-assisted treatment and peer support, leading to one of the largest drops in overdose deaths nationwide.

The heroic Hoosier recovery community deserves the most credit for these wins, and HIP is the policy and programmatic foundation that makes it possible. Traditional Medicaid primarily covers the aged, blind, and disabled. Medicaid expansion programs (like HIP) extend coverage to a broader low-income population.

Most individuals with substance use disorder are both low-income and not classified as disabled, meaning they would have no access to care without Medicaid expansion. The elimination of the HAF — and the likely cuts to HIP that would follow — would reverse Indiana’s progress, severely undermining our fight against addiction.

It is reasonable to argue that addressing the national debt may require difficult choices, including potential limits on Medicaid spending (although that argument is severely undermined when accompanied by a deficit-exploding tax cut).

Likewise, a philosophical debate about the government’s role in health care or Medicaid expansion’s mixed track record on health outcomes is a legitimate discussion. But, if lawmakers want to debate Medicaid expansion, they should do so transparently, without disguising significant cuts as routine and harmless policy adjustments.

Jay Chaudhary is the former director of the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction and former chair of the Indiana Behavioral Health Commission.

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Indiana

Curt Cignetti has solid start to Indiana football’s 2027 recruiting class. What’s next

Published

11 hours ago

February 4, 2026

Press Room

Curt Cignetti has solid start to Indiana football’s 2027 recruiting class. What’s next

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana appears likely to enjoy a quiet (traditional) national signing day Wednesday, with so much of the Hoosiers’ 2026 work already wrapped up.

The date remains important for Curt Cignetti — it is in some ways his informal calendar turn, the point at which Cignetti allows both himself and his staff time to breathe before reconvening to plan for the coming spring. Cignetti deadpanned after the national title game last month that he’ll likely point himself toward “some nice, hot-weather island (for) about a week” after the old signing date comes and goes.

He will do so safe in the knowledge that not only is 2026 broadly well-tended in Bloomington, but 2027 is off to a promising start as well. With five commitments in the bag and some intriguing targets at the top of the list, let’s take an early look at where things stand for Indiana in the matriculating junior class.

Celebrate IU’s season with these books, special sections!

Players listed alphabetically.

One of three Navy All-Americans already in the fold in 2027, Brown picked the Hoosiers on the day of that game, following Indiana’s Peach Bowl victory in the same weekend.
Listed at 5 foot 10, 175 pounds, Rivals industry rankings ranks him the No. 357 prospect in his class, and the No. 7 player in the state of Kentucky. He picked the Hoosiers over offers from, among others, Alabama, Louisville, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.
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Brown helped his team win a state title last fall, leading Christian Academy to a 15-0 record in the process. He finished his junior year with 98 catches for 1,566 yards and 24 touchdowns.

Brown’s teammate both in high school and at the Navy All-American Game, Hobbs actually spent last season at Atherton before returning to CAL earlier this year.
Hobbs was named first-team all-state honors as a defensive back in 2025, helping the Ravens to their first Class 5A state semifinal appearance. He finished with 71 tackles, 11 for loss, with five interceptions, three sacks, two fumbles forced and one recovered.
He also caught 35 passes for 583 yards, with 15 total touchdowns across offense, defense and special teams. Hobbs currently projects as a back-end defensive back in college.
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“Impact player on both sides of the ball,” Atherton coach Anthony White told the Louisville Courier-Journal earlier this year. “You looking for the best pound-for-pound football player in the state? Here you go. He can do it all. No true weaknesses in his game. I’ve seen him score every way possible.”
The Kentucky Football Coaches Association named Hobbs Class 5A District Three player of the year last year. He’s the No. 7-ranked player in his state, in his class, per Rivals.

The first in-state commitment in Indiana’s 2027 class, Jones picked the Hoosiers following a visit to Bloomington last weekend for a junior day.
The 6-6, 275-pound prospect is listed by some recruiting services as an offensive tackle. What he will represent to IU — an in-state lineman identified by trusted position coach Bob Bostad as an important early target in his class — is more valuable.
Jones picked Indiana over offers from Toledo, Western Michigan and Miami (Ohio), per 247Sports. He garnered all-state honors from the IFCA as a junior, helping lead Michigan City to eight wins in 2025.
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An Indiana legacy, Purcell kicked off Cignetti’s 2027 class when he committed to his parents’ alma mater in late July.
That decision made him an early cornerstone of what’s already trending toward becoming the highest-ranked class in IU history. A top-25 (247Sports) and top-35 (Rivals) recruit at his position, Purcell represents a promising long-term future behind center.
Across 12 games last fall, Purcell passed for 2,871 yards and 28 touchdowns, against nine interceptions. In two years behind center for Maine South, he’s logged more than 5,400 yards passing, plus another 404 on the ground, with 70 combined rushing and passing touchdowns.
Purcell led the Hawks to 10 wins in 2025.

The highest-rated of IU’s five commitments thus far in ’27, Torbert sits just one spot outside Rivals top 250 nationally. That same service rates him top-10 both at his position and in his state (Ohio).
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Torbert is the third of those All-American Bowl participants to commit to the Hoosiers in the rising class. He did so while passing on offers from, among others, Pitt, Iowa and his hometown Bearcats.
He played last season at Taft High School, starring at both quarterback at defensive back. Torbert combined for more than 2,100 total yards of offense in 2025, posting 31 total touchdowns.
His commitment represents not just an important win on the recruiting trail but also further inroads made in the talent-rich Cincinnati area, one Cignetti and his staff have prioritized across their early classes in Bloomington. IU enjoys a healthy history of Queen City-adjacent prep talents enjoying success in Bloomington, the recent list including players like Peyton Ramsey, Tegray Scales, Simon Stepaniak and Marcus Oliver.
A few more names to know …

Lawrence North WR Monshun Sales: One of the highest-rated receivers in the country, the Indy native has been a priority target for Cignetti and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan for some time now. Indiana will have to fight off some of the top schools in the country for his commitment.
Cedar Hill (Texas) DL Jalen Brewster: The top-rated defensive lineman in his class, per 247Sports, Brewster is committed to Texas Tech but remains a priority for IU. Assistant coach Pat Kuntz recently paid Brewster a visit.
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Chicago Mount Carmel WR Quentin Burrell: A four-star pass catcher, Burrell reportedly visited Bloomington recently.
New Palestine TE Mason Oglesby: One of the top players in the state in 2027, Oglesby was in attendance for the Hoosiers’ CFP national title celebration in Bloomington last month. IU is considered among the top contenders for his commitment as things stand.
Noblesville OL Mason McDermott: A four-star trench prospect from Noblesville, McDermott is among the Hoosiers’ top targets at his position. He’s a top-20 player at his position, per Rivals, which also rates him top-250 nationally.
Want more Hoosiers coverage? Sign up for IndyStar’s Hoosiers newsletter. Listen to Mind Your Banners, our IU Athletics-centric podcast, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the latest on IndyStar TV: Hoosiers.

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Utah Jazz defeat Indiana Pacers

Published

23 hours ago

February 3, 2026

Press Room

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Isaiah Collier had a career-high 22 assists — the most in the NBA this season and the most by a Utah player since John Stockton in 1992 — and the Jazz beat the Indiana Pacers 131-122 on Tuesday night with just seven healthy players.

Lauri Markkanen scored 27 points for the Jazz, who were short-handed after trading Georges Niang, Kyle Anderson, Walter Clayton Jr. and Taylor Hendricks to Memphis earlier Tuesday for Jaren Jackson Jr., Jock Landale, John Konchar and Vince Williams Jr.

The last NBA player with 22 assists in a game was Denver’s Nikola Jokic last March 7. Collier, who played the entire game, also scored 17 points as all seven Utah players had 14 points or more. Brice Sensabaugh scored 20, Ace Bailey had 19 and Kyle Filipowski had 16 points and 16 rebounds.

Quenton Johnson scored 24 points on 9-of-10 shooting and Jarace Walker also had 24 for the Pacers, who held out four regular starters — All-Star Pascal Siakam, Bennedict Mathurin, Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell — for rest or because of minor injuries. All four played a night earlier, when Indiana lost 118-114 to visiting Houston.

Little-used Kam Jones, a healthy scratch on Monday, made his first career start for the Pacers and had 12 points.

Keyonte George (ankle), Kevin Love (illness) and Walker Kessler (shoulder) sat out for the Jazz. Jusuf Nurkic was listed as available with an illness but did not play.

Stockton had 22 assists for Utah on Dec. 18, 1992 against Philadelphia. The Hall of Famer also had eight games with 23 or more, including a career-best 28 on Jan. 15, 1991 against San Antonio.

Up next

Jazz: At Atlanta on Thursday night.

Pacers: At Milwaukee on Friday night.

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Indiana

Tim McGraw’s Pawn Shop Guitar tour to visit Ruoff Music Center

Published

1 day ago

February 3, 2026

Press Room

Tim McGraw’s Pawn Shop Guitar tour to visit Ruoff Music Center

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Country music superstar Tim McGraw is bringing his 2026 summer headline tour to central Indiana.

The 33-date Pawn Shop Guitar Tour will make a stop at Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville on Friday, Sept. 18. McGraw will be joined by alt-country band 49 Winchester.

The Pawn Shop Guitar Tour announcement precedes a new track from McGraw, titled “Pawn Shop Guitar,” due out early next month.

“The band and I are so excited to get back out on the road this summer. This will be a great night of incredible songs and musicianship…and we can’t wait to see everyone,” McGraw said in a release.

Fans who sign up for McGraw’s fan experience, McGrawONE+, will receive access to an exclusive artist presale. The presale begins at 10 a.m. on Wednesday. Click here to sign up.

General ticket on-sale begins at 10 a.m. on Friday at timmcgraw.com.

The tour will also offer several VIP packages and experiences, including premium tickets, a Meet & Greet and photo op, a backstage tour, and more. Visit vipnation.com for more information.

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