How Will Budget Cuts Affect Healthcare in Indiana and Kentucky?

DODGE is said to plan to cut upwards of half a billion dollars from state programs in the Commonwealth and the Hoosier states. How will these budget cuts affect the community and local health care? What exactly are the state governments going to do about it?

Why is funding being cut?

The Trump administration has stated that cuts are being made to COVID-19 funds to decrease tax waste for American taxpayers. Kentucky alone will be losing out on over 400 million dollars. The administration cites the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason why the grants are being pulled from state budgeting. 

What plans are in place to protect the necessary grants?

"We have received notice of grants being canceled. It’s an unlawful cancellation and we’ll challenge it,” said Governor Beshear during his Team Kentucky briefing.. “These are contracts that we have. The contracts can only be terminated for cause, which means somebody did something wrong, and they’re trying to define cause as the pandemic’s over. It’s not a legal argument, and if we have to go to court, we will.” 

Here is what the Indiana Senate Majority Leader had to say about the proposed plans;

“There are so many unknowns,” said Bray, R-Martinsville. “And those are not small numbers … we’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, potentially.” 

Indiana House Speaker also had some input, “I don’t want to speculate on what those changes could be, but we’re certainly paying attention and watching,” said Huston, R-Fishers. “I’m for the federal government getting their financial house in order. If it has an impact on my life and our state — we’ve got to deal with that.”

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How will this affect the states and their residents? 

Here's an example of what could be negatively impacted by the redacted government grants. 

CDC-RFA-IP19-1901 Immunization and Vaccines for Children:

• The loss in funding will lead to delays in some daily vaccine order and delivery transactions, program projects, and bi-annual provider reenrollments.
• This will directly impact immunization efforts supported by eight entities in communities, leading to the discontinuation of key vaccination outreach, education, and service programs.
• This will prevent mobile vaccination services from reaching rural and underserved areas, reducing vaccine access and ending efforts to improve vaccine confidence through educational outreach through the Kentucky Primary Care Association.

Other programs around the area that will also be in the projected path of the cuts:

• The Purple Star Program- a program that serves current military service members, veterans and their families.
• Staffing to 988 call centers across the Commonwealth.
• Centers that provide addiction treatment services.
• Staffing to many support youth centers.
• Plan of care services for pregnant and parenting families with or at risk of addiction. 

Medicaid funding is projected to also be in the sites of these DODGE budget cuts, this will have possible repercussions on the 750,000+ Indiana residents that utilize Medicaid as their health insurance. $16.8 billion of Indiana's $24.1 billion State Medicaid budget comes from the federal government. 

Will the DODGE budget cuts across the region have any impact on your family or how your household runs?  

Sources: https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2025/02/28/where-do-federal-funding-cuts-leave-indiana/

https://www.wkyt.com/2025/03/28/doge-cuts-more-than-400-million-kentucky-entities/