INDIANAPOLIS — Governor-elect Mike Braun is unveiling the agenda he wants to tackle in his new role as Indiana's next governor.
Braun calls it "a bold vision for Indiana's future."
Indiana's new governor laid out several priorities that are part of what he calls his "Freedom and Opportunity Agenda." Those priorities include addressing property taxes and streamlining state government.
Another priority is addressing the cost of healthcare for Hoosiers.
Braun said he wants to invest in a healthier Indiana.
"I'm going to try and encourage employers to use plans that stress wellness and prevention," Braun said in a Zoom interview this week.
That's an approach the new governor said he took in his own business with his employees and lowered their health care costs 16 years ago.
"We don't pay attention to diet, lifestyle, and a simple profile of, 'Where is your own health at?' and then try and energize Hoosiers to be caretakers of their own plant and equipment," Braun explained.
The governor-elect isn't new to trying to address the cost of health care. He worked on the issue as a state lawmaker and United States senator.
A longtime business owner, Braun has frequently said he'll take an entrepreneurial approach in his role as governor, running the state like a business.
For Hoosiers insured through their employers, the state has little control over those plans.
The cost of healthcare could still be impacted though through some of the measures the new governor is proposing, like greater price transparency requirements, more regulation on pharmacy benefit managers and reforming the authorization process.
"If it's pretty routine, why should you have to go through the administrative side of giving a prior authorization?" Braun asked. "If it's going to be some complicated, expensive modality, yes, just put common sense into that, too."
The governor-elect's agenda also emphasizes continued coverage for pre-existing conditions and reforms to mental health treatment in hopes of reducing the burden on the criminal justice system.
Another health care issue on the new governor's agenda is health care in rural areas.
Braun said he wants to expand rural healthcare through new incentives for rural healthcare facilities, enhancing coverage of telehealth and improving access to care during pregnancy.
He also said he wants to look at the entirety of Indiana's hospital system, which he calls noncompetitive, likening it to an unregulated utility.
Braun didn't say whether he'd call for regulation changes, but indicated he'd lean on the hospital systems themselves to address the need for more healthcare opportunities in rural parts of the state.
"I'd like to see the system itself without state government getting too heavy handed in it, setting the context, creating the incentives and I don't think you're going to get more rural facilities in the current dynamic because there are very few of them that have been able to expand beyond their local market," Braun said. "I look at what some of them, very few, have done to actually spread their coverage and see if we can incentivize or encourage more of that around the rest of the state and then look at how the bigger systems might play into being supportive of it as well."
When it comes to the rising cost of Medicaid in Indiana, Braun said he wants to look at the underlying causes of what's driving that increase.
"We might find ways to make our portion more efficient," Braun said.
House Democratic Leader Phil GiaQuinta responded to the governor-elect's recent agenda announcement saying in a statement, "From lowering healthcare costs to increasing teacher pay, there are some agenda items from Governor-elect Mike Braun that House Democrats will be fully onboard with."
GiaQuinta's statement went on to say:
"Unfortunately, his plan has no mention of childcare expansion, or universal pre-K, and too much emphasis on expanding the school voucher program. If we want to bolster Indiana's economy and provide our children with a better future, it starts with childcare and access to early education."
GiaQuinta said the House Democratic Caucus is looking forward to working across the aisle and with the new governor "to push the majority party toward real results."