Pence shifts course, says no Medicaid waiver filed
By TOM LoBIANCO March 14, 2013 3:04PM
Updated: March 14, 2013 10:53PM
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Gov. Mike Pence says the state didn’t err when asking the federal government to expand Medicaid using a state-run plan because the state has not yet filed the waiver.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services returned Indiana’s application last month with a note that the state needed to conduct public hearings before re-submitting it. The delay has placed the state’s Healthy Indiana Plan in jeopardy of shutting down if the state doesn’t win approval before a June deadline.
But Pence wrote to legislative Democrats Thursday explaining the state never filed the waiver. He said the waiver sent to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius last month was an “advance copy.”
Pence spokeswoman Christy Denault said the state will file the actual waiver next month.
