Submitted for use on: Dec. 4, 2023
Word Count: 527
By State Sen. Tyler Johnson (R-Leo)
As an Indiana state senator and local physician, helping Hoosiers live healthy lives is one of my top priorities. Unfortunately, Indiana ranks as one of the unhealthiest states for life expectancy, in large part due to both obesity and smoking rates. Many of these factors are based on personal choices and responsibility. To help improve this statistic, the Governor's Public Health Commission offered recommendations to improve Hoosiers' health through increased funding and structural changes to how our state delivers public health services.
During the 2023 legislative session, the Indiana General Assembly passed Senate Enrolled Act 4, which reflects some of those recommendations and includes the following initiatives that aim to improve our public health care system.
SEA 4 established the Local Health Fund, a new optional grant program that supports local health departments in counties that voluntarily choose to provide certain public health services. Counties who opt into this program receive increased funding as an incentive to improve core public health services. There is a large list of services that the funding supports, including disease prevention and control, tobacco prevention and cessation, education to prevent trauma and injury, emergency preparedness and more. If a county does not choose to opt in, they will continue to receive the same amount of state funding for public health services that they've received previously.
I share the many concerns regarding county health departments and the IDOH given the challenges of the last several years. It is important to remember that SEA 4 was created to respect local communities and their needs by incentivizing – not mandating – any action.
The Local Health Fund is currently a two-year program funded by the state budget and controlled by the State Budget Agency, not the IDOH. We as legislators are watching this program closely to ensure it is beneficial to our local health departments and is positively impacting Hoosiers' overall health. When the program reaches the two-year mark, we will review its impact on Hoosiers and our state's public health care system to determine whether it should stay in place, receive more or less funding, or if other options should be considered. I am committed to safeguarding your hard-earned taxpayer dollars and making sure they do not go to waste.
As your state senator, I will remain engaged in monitoring how this new system is or isn't working as we move forward, and I hope to see improvements in our state's health metrics.
If you have questions or concerns about this or other topics, feel free to contact my office at Senator.Johnson@iga.in.gov or call 317-232-9466.
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State Senator Dr. Tyler Johnson (R-Leo) represents Senate District 14,
which includes portions of Allen and DeKalb counties.
Click here to download a high-resolution photo.
