Pence, Verma and Others From Indiana Setting Key Health Policies, Despite State's Poor Record

Vice President Mike Pence has been a leader of the Trump administration’s efforts to seek a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, including phasing out its Medicaid expansion. And he's brought along other Hoosiers: Seema Verma, who heads the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Jerome Adams, the nominee to be surgeon general, and Matt Lloyd, the top spokesman at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Several Hoosiers in key positions in the Trump administration, led by Vice President Mike Pence, are negotiating the future of federal health policy despite the state’s mixed reputation on health care. Indiana spends less on public health funding than any other except Nevada, a handicap when Indiana was home to the nation’s first HIV outbreak linked to the injection of oral painkillers in 2015. In addition, the state for years has ranked among the least healthy. Hoosiers smoke more, are less active and die sooner than most Americans. (Groppe, 7/23)

When she was health commissioner of Georgia, the state with one of the highest rates of child obesity, Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald faced two enormous challenges: How to get children to slim down and how to pay for it. Her answer to the first was Power Up for 30, a program pushing schools to give children 30 minutes more exercise each day, part of a statewide initiative called Georgia Shape. The answer to the second was Coca-Cola, the soft drink company and philanthropic powerhouse, which has paid for almost the entire Power Up program. (Kaplan, 7/22)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.

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