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Vigo County health staff warn state budget cuts to Health First Indiana could reduce partner funding
Summary
Health department staff said legislators plan cuts to Health First Indiana funding in 2026–27; Vigo County leaders said they have largely spent carryover funds and asked contracted partners to identify minimum amounts needed to sustain services.
County health staff told the board they are tracking legislative moves that would reduce Health First Indiana (HFI) funding and asked contracted partners to identify minimum funding needs in case carryover and state allocations shrink.
Joni (county staff) summarized proposals she said would cut HFI by $25 million in 2026 and another $25 million in 2027, with legislators moving some dollars toward Medicaid. “Pretty much right out of the gate… it was agreed upon to cut 25,000,000 in 2026 and and 25,000,000 in 2027,” Joni said. She told partners to prepare a minimum-funding list and a footnote of desired items so the county can prioritize carryover spending if state dollars fall.
Joni said Vigo County is one of the few counties that had already spent down its immunization grant carryover and that the county has less than 8% of carryover funds left. She said the county had already completed and submitted the HFI budget template for 2024 reporting and had used federal immunization grant funds to pay contract nurses in some years, noting the difficulty of hiring registered nurses at public-health salaries.
Board members also noted an HFI evaluation document in the meeting packet that estimated $141 million in direct and indirect cost savings from the first year of HFI implementation based on three core service areas (prenatal care, blood-pressure screening and fall-prevention services). The board added Crossroad Care Clinic (formerly Scribe Pregnancy Center) as an HFI partner during the meeting; staff said Crossroad offers mobile maternity sonography and related maternal services.
Why it matters: Cuts to HFI funding at the state level could force county and local partners to reduce or restructure programs that pay for maternal-child services, immunizations and contracted nursing support. Vigo County staff are attempting to identify the minimum funds local partners need to sustain services and said they will prioritize carryover and contractual budget allocations accordingly.
No formal board action to change local HFI funding was taken during the meeting; staff reported outreach to contracted partners and internal budget planning.
