INDIANAPOLIS (WRTV) A Fishers lawmaker is calling on the state to suspend Medicaid terminations for people affected by this months historic flooding.Rep. Victoria Garcia Wilburn (D-Fishers) called on Gov. Mike Braun and the Fam ily and Social Services Administration (FSSA) to take immediate steps to keep disaster-affected people from losing their Medicaid coverage and in-home care. Garcia Wilburn, a member of the House Committee on Public Health, is asking the state to take three specific actions for residents in the affected counties: Pause procedural Medicaid terminations. Direct FSSA to suspend disenrollments for beneficiaries in disaster-declared counties who cannot complete a renewal or return requested paperwork because of the storm, so no eligible Hoosier loses coverage over a form that washed away, a notice that never arrived or lack of access to the virtual FSSA Benefits Portal. Extend deadlines for waiver level-of-care assessments. Extend the deadlines for level-of-care assessments and reassessments under Indiana's Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waivers, and allow them to be completed by phone or video, so seniors, people with disabilities and medically fragile Hoosiers do not lose in-home services. Use every available tool to do it. Move now on the steps the state can take on its own, and pursue federal flexibilities, including an 1135 waiver and a disaster relief state plan amendment, that make these protections airtight.This is a common-sense solution, said Garcia Wilburn. This is logical. This has been done before in our state in 2020. It's been done after Katrina. It has been done as recently as 2024 during the wildfires in Hawaii.Garcia Wilburn said Indiana used these exact tools during the COVID-19 emergency, when FSSA allowed waiver level-of-care determinations to be done by phone and extended annual reassessment deadlines by six months so people would not lose their in-home care. Other states have paused Medicaid redetermination for residents of disaster-hit counties after hurricanes, wildfires and tornadoes, and federal rules specifically allow states to do so when a natural disaster makes it impossible for people to respond.Indianas I-Team has reported on families with disabilities who say the state kicked them off Medicaid.RELATED | Families with disabled children say state kicked them off Medicaid"FSSA's communication problems with Medicaid beneficiaries were making headlines before this storm ever hit," Garcia Wilburn said. "Now we have families who lost everything in the water, and the state is still asking them for paperwork. We should be helping these Hoosiers hold onto their coverage, not letting a deadline finish what the flood started.Garcia Wilburn also pointed out on August 17, the Indiana Department of Insurance called for a 60-day moratorium on insurance companies canceling any policies of Hoosiers directly affected by the storms, along with a suspension of late-payment penalties.The governor has already made sure families won't lose their insurance because a bill came due in the middle of a flood, Garcia Wilburn said. Their Medicaid deserves the same protection. Gov. Braun has declared the emergency and secured the federal declaration. Directing FSSA to protect coverage is the natural next step, and it's one he can take now.Indianas I-Team contacted the Governors office and FSSA about Garcia Wilburns request, and we are still waiting to hear back. ...read more read less