Porter passes amendment for Medicaid transparency, Republicans fail to deliver on promise to protect families on attendant care

Today, Feb. 27, State Rep. Gregory W. Porter (D-Indianapolis) introduced two amendments to Senate Bill 256 to protect families from being affected by the $1 billion Medicaid shortfall. The Committee struck down the first amendment to pause the reimbursement methodology for attendant care services. His second amendment was adopted to add non-voting members to the Medicaid Oversight Committee. In addition to Rep. Porter’s amendment, the House Ways and Means Committee passed an amendment to create an additional study of the Medicaid program and a Medicaid dashboard. 

Porter released the following statement regarding the committee hearing: 

“I’m glad we passed two amendments to increase FSSA transparency going forward, this will ensure our Hoosier families get the care they deserve. My amendment adds two non-voting members to the Medicaid Oversight Committees, which will provide real-world expertise and ensure the legislature has a better understanding of the program. I’m cautiously optimistic about these amendments, but I think Republicans need to address the true issue – the attendant care crisis.

“In good faith, I held my amendments last Thursday after a promise from my colleagues across the aisle that we would solve this together. I hope my colleagues still make good on this promise, but it didn’t happen today. My attendant care amendment was blocked, and we missed another chance to help our families – and their disabled loved ones – in crisis. Our most vulnerable Hoosiers are being kicked off their healthcare plans, yet we sit and twiddle our thumbs. 

“I’m thankful for the bipartisanship on increasing future FSSA transparency, but we cannot ignore our families who need help. I’ve said time and time again that we have the money to solve this issue. We have the resources to provide relief. They proved again today that it’s a mindset problem. I hope that their mindset will continue to change these final weeks of session. As they say: It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog. I’ve got a lot of fight left in me to help these Hoosier families.”