Gov. Braun to Newsmax: Indiana Cut Medicaid Rolls by 11 Percent With Crackdown

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun told Newsmax on Saturday that his administration has reduced Medicaid enrollment and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in projected savings by aggressively reviewing eligibility and removing people who should not have been on the program.

The Republican governor said in an interview on Newsmax's "America Right Now" that Indiana's Medicaid enrollment is down 11% since he took office, and he described the reforms as focused on what he called "low-hanging fruit" in eligibility enforcement.

"Big difference is, when I was in the U.S. Senate for six years, we talked about it," Braun said. "It was amazing the waste and abuse and fraud there."

The Wall Street Journal has reported that, due to reforms in Indiana, the state government is projected to save $466 million in Medicaid spending over the next two years.

Braun said his administration identified thousands of cases where recipients were enrolled in Medicaid despite qualifying for Medicare, and made a shift that reduced state Medicaid costs.

"We found out people were on the rolls that should have been on Medicare," Braun said. "That would have eliminated all our Medicaid expense. More than 10,000 people there."

Braun also said the state found cases of individuals improperly receiving benefits across state lines.

"We also found out that people were double-dipping into one state or another," he said. "You were doing things that weren't checking eligibility. That's all low-hanging fruit. We just went through that and we made sure that we got rid of it."

Braun said those steps have already produced savings, and more reductions are expected.

"And that's the savings we've garnered in just the year and projected again next year," he said. "So we're just getting started."

Braun was asked about allegations of widespread welfare fraud highlighted in a House Oversight Committee hearing and reported in multiple states.

Braun said fraud at that scale would be impossible for a governor to miss.

"No way," he said. "We were noticing it in the tens and hundreds of millions. There's no way you can miss $9 billion worth of fraud going on."

Braun attributed Indiana's approach to what he described as a management mindset shaped outside politics.

"I ran a business for 37 years," he said. "Didn't come from the background of being a career politician."

He also argued that states have a different incentive structure than Washington, since they must balance budgets.

"States are different. Don't have the printing press in the basement," Braun said. "We've got to balance our budgets."

Asked whether Congress needs to address fraud and improper payments at the federal level, Braun said the problem is broad, but political gridlock makes major reforms difficult.

"Systemic, for sure, but you got to get 60 senators to agree to it," he said. "We didn't get 60 senators to agree to anything in the six years I was there. That would have been transformational."

He also criticized Democrats for what he said is a lack of focus on program management.

"The other side of the aisle doesn't even show an interest in fraud and waste and abuse," Braun said. "They're mostly interested in getting the benefits and then don't care how to manage them."

Braun said states that expand Medicaid aggressively can end up with costs that "swamp some state budgets," but insisted Indiana will avoid that outcome.

"That won't happen in Indiana," he said.

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