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State requests feds drop HIP 2.0 review

Posted at 10:48 PM, Jan 15, 2016
and last updated 2016-01-15 22:48:17-05

INDIANAPOLIS -- Gov. Mike Pence is questioning a federal review of the state's Health Indiana Plan.

Several members of Congress have sent a letter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to drop the evaluation, but the state may not win the dispute.

The governor touted the program, also known as HIP 2.0, during his State of the State address for providing health coverage to more than 359,000 Hoosiers.

The program is undergoing two reviews. Rep. Susan Brooks (R-Carmel) and Senator Dan Coats (R-Indiana) have asked for an end to the federal review because, they say, the group will not fairly evaluate the program.

Health & Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said the evaluation will continue, despite their objections.

"With regard to the specific, it is a professional organization that is run through a contracting program in terms of choice of evaluators," Burwell said. "We just want to make sure we know what's working, and, if there are places where improvements can be made, how do we do that? That's what waiver is about across the country: Trying to experiment with new things and new ideas. Figuring out what works and building on it."

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