Residents asked Indiana state Rep. Hal Slager and state Sen. Dan Dernulc, R-Highland, direct questions about Medicaid, property taxes and education during a town hall meeting in Schererville Saturday.

Going into the current budget session, Slager, R-Schererville, said the legislature has had to grapple with two challenges: A “skinny revenue forecast” and an increase in the Medicaid costs the state has to fund.

Indiana has seen an increase in the number of people on Medicaid, which is paid for by the state and federal government, Slager said. In 2023, 21.8% of Indiana residents were signed up for Medicaid coverage, according to Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy.

Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Mishawaka, authored Senate Bill 2 which would place restrictions on Medicaid, like work requirements on an insurance program for Hoosiers between the ages of 19 to 64.

Mishler called Senate Bill 2 the “right size” for Medicaid, which has grown exponentially in recent years. In the last four years, Medicaid costs have grown by $5 billion, he said. Meanwhile, since COVID, Medicaid participants have nearly doubled — from 390,000 to 750,000.“We’re trying to find ways to reduce that cost,” Slager said. “You can see how that’s just eating into our ability to have any flexibility.”

During a meeting last year, Slager said he met with a healthcare administrator to discuss pediatric care, which Slager has filed bills about. They were meeting for the first time to discuss the issue, but Slager said he ended the meeting early after he learned that the woman’s sole job was to help people sign up for Medicaid.

“I said to her, ‘we don’t need to continue this meeting because your agenda and my agenda are completely opposite,’” Slager said. “I said, ‘because I want to see people independent from government help and you want them on government help. This isn’t going to work.’ ”

The state’s Department of Education, Family and Social Services Administration and Medicaid saw an increase in funding, while other departments are “taking a hair cut” in the budget, Slager said.

Irene Martin, of Schererville, said the Baby Boomer generation has been entering the Medicaid system in recent years and will continue to in years to come. She asked if the legislature is taking that into consideration as it debates Medicaid cuts.

“The numbers are the numbers, and we’ve just seen this big growth,” Slager said. “When it comes to people over 65, we have a share of costs in their long-term care.”

Betsy Hunt, of Schererville, said people from Illinois have been moving to Northwest Indiana in retirement for the lower property tax costs. That could be contributing to the “silver tsunami” of people joining Medicaid, she said.

“I don’t know what all the answers are in trying to contain that cost,” Slager said. “What I don’t know, and (Family and Social Services Administration) may know, is what percentage of that growth is directly related to the Baby Boomers.”

Gene Ranieri, of Dyer, said he was the only dentistry specialist to accept Medicaid for 30 years.

“We need to shoulder some of the burden for people who have less than us,” Ranieri said. “I know that Medicaid costs are great, but to me, that is part of what being American is about.”

The legislature also has been busy discussing Senate Bill 1, which is property tax reform, that has shifted in recent weeks from Gov. Mike Braun’s proposed plan to a Senate amendment which offers some relief to taxpayers but at the same time, not cutting revenues to schools, counties and municipalities as deeply as Braun’s plan.

Two weeks ago, the House Ways and Means committee heard Senate Bill 1 and Senate Bill 518, which would require school corporations to share referendum dollars with local charter schools, which saw nearly 150 people signed up to testify to speak on the two bills, Slager said.

Last week, Senate Bill 1 was amended further to strip the bill and include language House Bill 1402, authored by House Ways and Means committee chairman Jeffrey Thompson.

Thompson, R-Lizton, said the hallmark of House Bill 1402 is a 5-year phase-in of exemptions and deductions so that every parcel in the state hits the property tax cap. Thompson’s plan calls for some deductions for homesteads to be replaced, lowering business personal property tax floors, and shifting the authorization of local income taxes.

The fiscal impact of Thompson’s bill would cut $362.8 million across the state through 2028, including $76.7 million from counties, $147.2 million from cities and towns, $186.2 million from school corporations, and $2.1 million from libraries. The fiscal impact of the previous two plans cut billions of dollars from these entities.

Slager said he hasn’t received many emails or calls from constituents complaining that their property taxes are too high. Slager said Lake County Finance Director Scott Schmal completed a study that found that property taxes are increasing for homeowners because their assessed values have increased more than assessed values for businesses.

Thompson’s bill is “a very good proposal, however, it turns the whole system upside down” and still requires local governments to cut their budgets and services, Slager said.

Jillian Schranz, of Dyer, said while no one likes to pay taxes, the majority of homeowners don’t mind paying their current property tax rate because it pays for local services.

Tri-Creek School Corporation Superintendent Andy Anderson said his school district, and other nearby districts, have made major cuts in recent years because referendums did not pass. The districts cut “all their ‘wants’ and they are now down to bare minimum needs,” he said.

As Braun and the legislature have a desire to fund charter and private schools, that is “a want and not a need” for the state, Anderson said.

When reviewing education-related bills the Senate and House have proposed, Anderson said the district’s chief business officer made various calculations, and one scenario revealed that the district would receive an annual increase of $720.

“We’re at a time where maybe we need to pump the brakes on expanding the voucher system,” Anderson said.

When it comes to property taxes, Anderson asked if it is an issue that the legislature could “hit the pause button and really take our time to sort through instead of run and jamming through” an issue that could lead to unintended consequences.

Slager said the bill will be heard in committee, with public comment, for as long as needed.

“We’re gonna see where it goes,” Slager said.

House Bill 1461, authored by state Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, would allow the state to charge tolls on all Indiana interstate highways, including I-80/94 and I-65.

Slager said with more fuel-efficient cars and with the price of road funding “going up dramatically” in recent years, the state finds itself in the position where it is nearly $1 billion short to cover its road funding costs. The state funds road maintenance entirely through fuel tax, he said.

There is “a whole lot of stuff” in House Bill 1461, Slager said, but at one point it included language that would exclude toll roads within 75 miles of nearby toll roads, which would’ve protected Northwest Indiana from being tolled. But, that language was removed, he said.

The concern with tolling, Slager said, is that people will avoid the toll roads and drive down local roads. Another concern, he said, is that if another toll road was set up in Northwest Indiana it would be leased, which would mean the state wouldn’t have control over it.

The Republican supermajority in Indiana has been following other states in stripping away rights from those in the LGTBQ community, Schranz said. When Indiana inevitably introduces a bill to criminalize Indiana residents based on who they love or their gender, Schranz asked Slager and Dernulc for a commitment that they wouldn’t support legislation that would criminalize residents based on who they love or their gender.

Slager said he doesn’t want to criminalize residents. Dernulc said he agreed, but he would have to see the bill.

“We’re not on the same page about this,” Schranz said. “The families in your district, despite any of your own personal beliefs, deserve to be respected.”

Daria Depa, of Schererville, asked why the state legislature wouldn’t pass a bill to allow for ballot initiatives for residents to vote on matters that relate to education, marijuana, abortions and other issues.

“That’s what you elect us for,” Slager said.

akukulka@post-trib.com