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Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry has passed away after a brief battle with cancer.

Healthy Indiana Plan Clears Its Waiting List

The Healthy Indiana Plan, the state’s health insurance program for low-income Hoosiers, has added all the applicants from its waiting list to the program for 2014. But that list was dramatically shorter than in previous years. 

Last year, more than 50 thousand Hoosiers were on the waiting list for the Healthy Indiana Plan. When the federal government approved the program’s renewal for 2014, it changed the scope of the program, forcing the state to lower the income eligibility ceiling.

The state’s Family and Social Services Administration contacted Hoosiers on the waiting list, inviting them to reapply if they thought they still met the new eligibility guidelines. 

Less than five thousand reapplied, and only about 3,400 are eligible to enroll. FSSA says those who did not reapply may be eligible for health insurance premium support through the federal healthcare marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act.  

Clearing the smaller waiting list will still leave 17 thousand spots open in the Healthy Indiana Plan. But some estimates say that could still leave hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers without an affordable health insurance option.

Brandon Smith is excited to be working for public radio in Indiana. He has previously worked in public radio as a reporter and anchor in mid-Missouri for KBIA Radio out of Columbia. Prior to that, he worked for WSPY Radio in Plano, Illinois as a show host, reporter, producer and anchor. His first job in radio was in another state capitol, in Jefferson City, Missouri, as a reporter for three radio stations around Missouri. Brandon graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2010, with minors in political science and history. He was born and raised in Chicago.