The Trump Administration is killing our health care. The president’s administration is using little-known, little-discussed detrimental rules to take affordable access to care away from all of us. Hospitals, nursing homes and long-term care providers are very worried and sounding the alarm for the rest of us.

We all know that certain members of Congress have voted more than 70 times to get rid of the health care changes that were enacted almost ten years ago. After Congress passed the health care access bill, many states revamped their health care plans, including Indiana. Former Governor Mike Pence and the legislature, on a bi-partisan basis, enacted the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) 2.0 program to provide health insurance to hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers. The changes in health care law also allowed for Indiana’s county hospitals and many long-term care facilities to treat Indiana’s poorest and most frail patients.

Now, all of this is threatened by a few rule changes covertly proposed by the Trump Administration with no oversight by Congress. President Trump’s efforts to undo states’ health care successes could have devastating effects on Indiana. This stealthy rule change would affect reimbursement rates to our hospitals and long-term care facilities, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars. These changes could also lead to Indiana losing up to 152 nursing homes over the next five years.

Unfortunately, Indiana legislators are just now being made aware of this. The public comment period on this rule change ends on February 1, 2020. The governor must make Indiana’s dire situation known to the federal administration and oppose these changes in strong terms. Surely, Governor Holcomb would not want to see a second term plagued by forced closings of hospitals and long-term care facilities. The timetable is urgent. This rule change could cause irreparable harm to the State of Indiana, leaving many Hoosier families without access to health care