Indiana could become the first state to ban residents from using food assistance to buy candy and soda.
That’s just one of a slew of executive orders Gov. Mike Braun unveiled April 15 as part of his “Make Indiana Healthy Again” plan. But to do so, he will need the support of the federal government — including the man who stood beside Braun as he made the announcement this week.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who serves as the federal Health and Human Services Secretary, is sure to be a willing partner in Braun’s aims to limit the use of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, called SNAP for short. Kennedy made a similar announcement on behalf of the Trump administration last month.
Kennedy and Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, traveled to Indiana to join Braun’s press conference at the Indiana State Library. The chants from dozens of protesters outside were drowned out by applause from conservative lawmakers and supporters.
“More SNAP benefits are spent on sugary drinks and candy than on fruits and vegetables,” Braun said. “That changes today.”
The governor said he submitted a waiver to the federal government to create state restrictions on the program. Other executive orders he announced include adding work requirements for more SNAP recipients, commissioning studies about food safety and diet-related illness and various proposals to generally limit “waste, fraud and abuse” in the state’s Medicaid program.
Braun said it’s all part of an effort to change a culture in Indiana that “promotes chronic disease” instead of preventing it.
Indiana consistently ranks as one of the least healthy states. About 37% of adults are obese, and more people die from cancer here than on average. Dismal maternal and infant outcomes are common; in Indiana, one baby dies about every 16 hours.
Indiana Democrats, though, say the state’s health care challenges aren’t the result of welfare programs but, instead, difficulties accessing resources in large swaths of the state — driven in large part by a lack of funding in Republican budgets.
“We’re watching rural health care deserts grow, mental health services vanish, maternal mortality rise and school-based supports disappear,” said Sen. Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, who leads the Democratic caucus in the Senate, “while this administration restricts food assistance and Medicaid access under the guise of accountability.”
Her party pointed out that Braun cut $50 million from local public health funding in his budget proposal. The money is part of a multi-year plan from former Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican who wanted to address the state’s poor outcomes with preventive services.
“It’s not leadership to bring your D.C. friends in for a flashy announcement but then fail to put your money where your mouth is,” Rep. Maureen Bauer, D-South Bend, said in a statement.
Braun’s proposals are part of a larger movement — complete with “Make America Healthy Again”-branded hats — sweeping the nation as Kennedy brings his often controversial beliefs to different states. He is finding support among a public growing increasingly skeptical of successes in public health.
Like in Utah, where he celebrated the state for becoming the first to ban fluoride in public drinking water, prompting outrage from doctors and dentists because the mineral prevents tooth decay.
Or this week, in Indiana, where Kennedy questioned the effectiveness of the measles vaccine as new outbreaks are just beginning to take root among unvaccinated residents.
Kennedy questions ‘leaky’ vaccine during measles outbreak
Kennedy praised Braun’s executive orders as a solution to a national crisis. “This whole generation of kids is damaged by chronic disease,” Kennedy said.
But the former 2024 presidential candidate also has a history of making debunked claims about one of the best tools to prevent illness: vaccines, which he has falsely linked to autism.
During the Indianapolis press conference, Kennedy said measles shots are “leaky” and less effective over time — another claim medical experts say is untrue. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which Kennedy himself oversees, says two doses of the MMR vaccine provide about 97% immunity for life.
But Indiana’s child vaccination rates have fallen in recent years, in part from hesitancy after the coronavirus pandemic and views championed by people like Kennedy.
The state already has six cases of measles, which is spreading among unvaccinated people in Allen County. The highly contagious disease can cause severe complications and death, especially in children.
“We need to make sure doctors know how to treat measles,” Kennedy said when asked by a journalist at the press conference about the state’s cases. “We can’t simply rely on vaccines.”
Arthur Caplan, a professor of bioethics at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, told Mirror Indy there’s no treatment for measles once a person is infected — only vaccines that save lives by protecting against the disease.
“You put somebody in the ICU and hope they don’t develop lung disease and pneumonia,” Caplan said. “That’s not treatment, it’s handling the damage.”
In the midst of a measles outbreak that’s killed two children and sickened 700 people across two dozen states, the Trump administration has also cut funding and thousands of jobs at the nation’s leading health agencies, including the CDC.
It’s part of efforts led by tech billionaire Elon Musk to cut government spending. But many Indiana health officials are worried about being able to respond to public health crises in their own backyard.
Dr. Virginia Caine, the chief medical officer at the Marion County Public Health Department, pointed to bird flu, the opioid epidemic and measles.
“We have to be concerned about having the workforce to meet these demands,” she said during a March 27 virtual town hall with U.S. Rep. André Carson, D-Indianapolis. At least 300 health workers in Indianapolis have positions funded by federal grants, she said.
Marion County’s health department is still reeling from losing all federal funding for its immunization program. That’s part of a $40 million cut to local health departments across Indiana from Trump’s slashes to pandemic-era grants, which supported community vaccination efforts and disease surveillance.
Caine told residents at the town hall she was worried about the developments. But something else was of even greater concern, she said: Medicaid.
Fights over Medicaid
At the Statehouse and at the federal level, fights over who can use government health and assistance programs continue.
Indiana Republicans say the state is spending too much on Medicaid, and the programs are being hijacked by people who aren’t truly eligible. Their solutions are found in Senate Bill 2.
The priority legislation focuses on the Healthy Indiana Plan, the state’s expanded Medicaid program, which covers low-income adults who cannot afford private insurance. SB 2 originally sought to cap the program at 500,000 — a provision that would have kicked more than 250,000 Indiana residents off of health coverage. Lawmakers recently ditched that cap, but the bill still contains new work requirements for people who receive coverage.
“There’s a big gap in this language of ‘we will make sure everyone who is eligible stays on Medicaid’ and all of these bureaucratic barriers being put up,” said David Craig, a health policy researcher and professor at IU Indianapolis.
Work requirements are really about documentation, Craig said, which can be difficult to navigate. He pointed out hoops someone might have to jump through if they miss a communication about the program, update their address or change jobs.
“It’s going to be easy for people to lose their coverage, have it interrupted or go to the emergency room instead,” Craig said.
Opponents of Senate Bill 2 say forcing people off HIP won’t save the state money anyway, because the program is 90% funded by the federal government.
But that match rate could be at risk. Republicans in Congress passed a budget that experts say would require steep cuts to Medicaid.
Dr. Oz is at the helm of the agency that oversees the program alongside Medicare — both of which provide health coverage to more than 100 million people who are elderly, disabled or low-income. The heart surgeon, confirmed to his position in early April, is best known for his daytime television show where he offered health advice to Americans — including alternative medicines and products without scientific backing.
“Chronic illness drives 70% of the total health care budget,” Oz said during the press conference, noting that he believes Indiana’s executive orders will reduce that spending. “It turns out the most patriotic thing you can do these days is get healthy.”
Craig, in contrast, said the health of Hoosiers is dependent on access to care and the strength of the systems providing it.
“Behind these policies is the idea that a person’s health is their responsibility, period,” he said. “That’s not the reality. You stay healthy through social supports and investments in public health.”
Mirror Indy reporter Mary Claire Molloy covers health. Reach her at 317-721-7648 or email maryclaire.molloy@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @mcmolloy7.
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