INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Gov. Mike Braun and state lawmakers from both parties on Wednesday said a raft of laws passed this spring will lower health care bills.
Braun held a ceremonial signing for 10 health care-related bills lawmakers approved during the 2025 session. Among them is a new law that requires health insurers to give a credit to any consumer who finds a health-related service for a cheaper rate than what the insurer charges.
Other new laws include a requirement for health care plan administrators to act in their clients’ best interest, and a framework to allow patients in cancer clinical trials to be reimbursed for expenses, such as lodging or travel.
Health care costs played a central role in Braun’s campaign platform, and were arguably the session’s top issue after property taxes and the state budget. It was also frequently an area of bipartisan cooperation. Five of the 10 bills lawmakers celebrated on Wednesday passed the legislature by unanimous or near-unanimous votes.
Braun said the new laws collectively will make health care in Indiana more transparent and more accountable.
“Even (in Washington), it can make some movement. Here, we accomplished a lot in one year,” Braun said. “Hallelujah.”
Perhaps the most complex health care legislation this year came from the House. House Bill 1003 expands Indiana’s right-to-try law and requires nonprofit hospitals with net patient revenue above $2 billion to apply site-of-service payments to off-campus outpatient settings, a move meant to limit some of the fees patients are charged. It also requires insurers to provide a good-faith estimate of out-of-pocket costs for a procedure within 48 hours, instead of the current five days and prohibits insurers from denying coverage for eligible care on the basis that the patient was referred by an independent or out-of-network provider.
House Bill 1004 requires nonprofit hospitals to submit audited financial statements and establishes a Medicaid direct payment system for hospitals. It also requires an Indiana nonprofit hospital system’s aggregate average inpatient and outpatient hospital prices to at least be equal to or less than the statewide average by 2029.
House Bills 1003 and 1004 were both priority bills for House Republicans. When the final versions crossed the finish line, members of both parties ended up in both the “yes” and “no” columns.
Rep. Julie McGuire, R-Indianapolis, wrote two of the bills that earned the governor’s signature, including the health insurance credit bill. She said both chambers and the governor’s office did a great job of working together as each bill worked its way through the General Assembly.
“I think we did so many things,” McGuire said. “There’s so many pieces of this puzzle. I think a lot of these bills will work together.”
Democrats were more circumspect. Rep. Robin Shackleford, D-Indianapolis, who wrote the clinical trial patient reimbursement bill, said there were plenty of wins for consumers, but some new laws will put people at a disadvantage, such as the new Medicaid work requirements.
“I would say it was a mixed bag because when you look at some of those bills that are going to affect people, the Medicaid bills, those are going to be detrimental, but we do have some positives in there,” Shackleford said.