IDP: Now that CHIP is fully funded by ACA, Does Pence Still Want Full Repeal of the Law?

INDIANAPOLIS – Another day, another story about how the Affordable Care Act is doing what it’s supposed to do – provide quality and affordable health insurance to everyday, middle class families. This time, the ACA is expected to fund Indiana’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) by 99.62% over the next two fiscal years. While this is good news for some, if Governor Mike Pence had his way, the ACA would be fully repealed, leaving the over 73,000 Hoosier kids enrolled in CHIP without health insurance.

Does Mike Pence support Indiana’s CHIP receiving nearly 100% funding from the ACA? Will he finally put his ideology aside and admit the Affordable Care Act is improving the lives of everyday Hoosiers?

“Governor Pence has found himself in an ideological pickle, and he should finally come clean and admit to Hoosiers that the Affordable Care Act was the right thing to do for Indiana. Over 500,000 Hoosiers, including 73,334 children, receive their insurance through the ACA, and the number grows by the day,” said Drew Anderson, communications director for the Indiana Democratic Party. “After spending five years as congressman and two years as governor siding against the ACA, Pence should stop wasting taxpayer dollars fighting the law that’s proven to be constitutional. It’s time for Mike Pence to work on commonsense solutions that will unite and improve the lives of all Hoosiers. Any other action is now simply unacceptable to Hoosiers.”

However, this isn’t the first time Mike Pence was intellectually dishonest with Hoosiers about the Affordable Care Act. From the Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0 (HIP) receiving 100% of its funding from the ACA – a plan with close to 300,000 Hoosiers enrolled – to over 177,000 Hoosiers signed up with the subsidies exchange program, Mike Pence refused to admit the success of the ACA in the state of Indiana. Pence went even further this month by saying the ACA “should be repealed and replaced with something similar that we have done here in Indiana.”

Replace the ACA with what? The healthcare programs available in the state of Indiana are 100% funded by the Affordable Care Act. So the question remains – when will Governor Pence embrace the Affordable Care Act?