Gov. Braun signs Garten's bill to lower health care costs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  
Contact: Lance Gideon, Senior Press Secretary
Lance.Gideon@iga.in.gov
317-234-9221

Gov. Braun signs Garten's bill to lower health care costs

STATEHOUSE (June 24, 2025) — A bill sponsored by State Sen. Chris Garten (R-Charlestown) to improve health care price transparency and accountability was ceremonially signed into law on Wednesday, June 18, by Gov. Mike Braun.

Perhaps the most significant provision in House Enrolled Act 1004 is requiring nonprofit hospital systems with at least $2 billion in annual patient revenue to lower their prices to the state average by June 30, 2029, or start paying taxes to support their local communities.

"In recent years, several national studies have shown that Hoosiers pay some of the highest health care bills in the country, and the state's five largest nonprofit hospital systems are one of the main reasons this is happening," Garten said. "Being exempt from paying state and local taxes is a privilege, and our state must hold these multi-billion-dollar nonprofit health care providers accountable in order to help bring prices down."

HEA 1004 also requires these same multi-billion-dollar hospital systems to begin offering direct-to-employer coverage arrangements and to annually submit audited financial statements for the past two years to the Indiana Department of Health.

Garten said HEA 1004 aims to tackle several underlying factors contributing to high health care costs—not just hospital pricing. To support this goal, the legislation includes a range of measures to increase transparency among insurers, third-party administrators (TPAs), and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). For example:

• Insurers and TPAs must disclose commissions and fees to policyholders.
• PBMs are required to provide more detailed information on revenue generated from prescription drug rebates.
• Clients of PBMs, TPAs, and insurers will have improved access to audit the companies’ compliance with their health plan contracts.

Over the past few years, Garten has worked diligently to lower health care costs in Indiana by:

• Chairing the Health Care Cost Oversight Task Force;
• Authoring a bill to promote competition in Indiana's health care system; and
• Ensuring the health insurance industry has a fiduciary responsibility to a health plan sponsor with whom they work.

Sen. Garten can be reached by filling out a "Contact Me" form online at www.IndianaSenateRepublicans.com/Garten or by phone at 800-382-9467.

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State Sen. Chris Garten (R-Charlestown) represents Senate District 45,
which includes Clark County and portions of Floyd County.
Click here to download a high-resolution photo.