Hoosier Health Matters – Details, episodes & analysis

Hoosier Health Matters
Season 1, Episode 1
Date: 1/31/2025
Title: Thus it Begins

In this inaugural episode of Hoosier Health Matters, host Gabriel Bosslet and guest Tracey Wilkinson from the Good Trouble Coalition discuss the current Indiana legislative session, focusing on key health policy issues. They provide an overview of the legislative process, highlight significant bills such as Senate Bill 475 regarding non-compete clauses for physicians, and address the implications of recent executive orders related to terminated pregnancy reports. The conversation also touches on the challenges faced at the federal level, particularly concerning NIH communication and funding.

00:00 Introduction
01:52 How a bill becomes a law in Indiana (here is a good visual)
03:33 Details of the 2025 legislative session
06:53 The Good Trouble Bill Tracker and SB 475
12:53 Governor Braun's executive order regarding Terminated Pregnancy Reports
19:38 Federal NIH communications pause

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Hoosier Health Matters
Season 1, Episode 2
Date: 2/7/2025
Title: Three bills, a cancelled conference, and the state of science in America

In this episode of Hoosier Health Matters, hosts Gabriel Bosslet and Tracey Wilkinson three health policy bills heard in the last two weeks in the Indiana legislature. One (SB 370) deals with medicaid costs for outpatient procedures (which Gabe calls the "Tracey colonoscopy bill"). Gabe talks to Senator Fady Qaddoura about SB 317, which tackles medical debt, and Tracey discusses SB 442, which requires that sex ed curricula are approved by school boards. They then decry the cancellation of the Indiana University LGBTQ+ Health Care conference, and wrap up with discussing draconian changes at the CDC. They end with a call to action for listeners.

A huge thanks to Janine Zee-Cheng for design of our podcast cover art!

00:00- Introduction

01:50- Senate Bill 370: Tracey's colonoscopy bill

05:18- Senate Bill 317: Reducing Medical Debt (with special guest Fady Qaddoura!)

09:50 -Senate Bill 442: Sex Education in Indiana

12:52 -The Cancellation of the IULGBTQ+ Healthcare Conference (read Lawdork's blog about this here) 

16:07 -Concerns Over CDC pulling clinical information and data (terrific article here)

19:44- Small things you should do this week (find your legislators here)

22:33 Wrap up

Become a member of the Good Trouble Coalition (free!)
Donate to support the Good Trouble Coalition

Thanks for listening!
Follow us on Bluesky and Instagram

Thanks for listening!
Follow us on Bluesky and Instagram

Hoosier Health Matters
Season 1, Episode 4
Date: 2/21/2025
Title: Halftime lookback, update on TPR case, and Hoosier public health funding 

In this episode of Hoosier Health Matters, hosts Gabriel Bosslet and Tracey Wilkinson look back at the first half of the legislative session with some bill updates and a discussion of the dead bills they will miss and the dead bills they are happy are dead. They also give an update on the Terminated Pregnancy Report court case (including a temporary restraining order).  Then how the Governor's Public Health Commission of 2022 changed public health funding in Indiana.

Gabe's medium pieces summarizing the Governor's Public Health Commission: part 1, part 2

00:00- Introduction

01:00- Updates on bills we have discussed: SB 317 (did not pass- boo!), HB 1169 (did not pass- yay!), SB 442 (passed- boo!), SB 475 (passed- yay!)

03:00- Terminated pregnancy reports case (temporary restraining order ruling)

04:06- Bills that died that make us sad (SB 145 and HB 1251), and those that make us happy (HB 1657 and SB 286)

08:12- The basics of public health delivery in Indiana (before the Governor's public health commission)

09:58- Funding of public health before 2023 (far below the national average)

12:12- Indiana standing in typical public health outcomes

13:01- What do local health departments actually do in Indiana?

14:56- Governor's public health commission recommendations

16:27- Public health funding in 2025-2026 budget (HB 1001) 

18:25- Health First Indiana County Scorecard 

19:16- Life expectancy in Indiana is going down

19:57- Something you should do this week (bill page on the General Assembly website)

21:42- Summary and wrap up

Become a member of the Good Trouble Coalition (free!)
Donate to support the Good Trouble Coalition

Kudos to Janine Zee-Cheng for our podcast art and to Elijah Bosslet for production and editing assistance.

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Hoosier Health Matters
Season 1, Episode 3
Date: 2/14/2025
Title: A contraception bill gone wrong, Indiana medicaid, and NIH funding controversy

In this episode of Hoosier Health Matters, hosts Gabriel Bosslet and Tracey Wilkinson discuss House Bill 1169, which was authored to improve access to contraception for low-income Hoosiers, but was amended to do very little and redefine birth control in the code to exclude, well, a lot. They also interview Drs. David Craig and Ivan Douglas Hicks to discuss Indiana medicaid and proposed changes in Senate Bill 2.  They also discuss the recent funding chaos at the NIH and close with an invitation to the Reproductive Health Lobby Day at the Statehouse of February 20th.

00:00 Introduction 

01:25 House Bill 1169: The Contraceptive Access Debate

07:14 Senate Bill 2: Understanding Medicaid in Indiana (Report: The economic power of Indiana's Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP): 2025)

21:13 NIH funding chaos

25:39 Small things for this week (including this short clip from Mallory McMorrow and an invitation to the Reproductive Health Lobby Day February 20)

27:27 Wrap up

Become a member of the Good Trouble Coalition (free!)
Donate to support the Good Trouble Coalition

Thanks for listening!
Follow us on Bluesky and Instagram

Thanks for listening!
Follow us on Bluesky and Instagram

Hoosier Health Matters
Season 1, Episode 7
Date: 3/14/2025
Title: Navigating Indiana's legislative website (it's easy!) and the harm of crisis pregnancy centers in Indiana

In this episode of Hoosier Health Matters, hosts Gabriel Bosslet and Tracey Wilkinson discuss how to find information about bills on the Indiana General Assembly website (which is one of the best in the country) and talk about Senate Concurrent Resolution 24, which commends Crisis Pregnancy Centers. They interview Dr. Erin Johnson, a PhD postdoctoral fellow at Indiana University who studies reproductive health social movements about Crisis Pregnancy Centers in Indiana and why the risks of these centers outweigh the positive benefits.

00:00-  introduction

2:08- Update on TPR case, possible government shutdown 

3:10- How to use the Indiana General Assembly website

4:32- Quick discussion of HB 1148

7:14- Senate Concurrent Resolution 24 overview

9:04- Interview with Erin Johnson, PhD regarding crisis pregnancy centers

Repro health resources:

Crisis Pregnancy Center map project

IneedanA.com

Abortionfinder.org

23:03- Little things you can do this week

24:45- Wrap up

Elijah Bosslet provided production support on this episode.

Become a member of the Good Trouble Coalition (free!)
Donate to support the Good Trouble Coalition

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Hoosier Health Matters
Season 1, Episode 6
Date: 3/7/2025
Title: A good executive order, SB 289 takes medical education back 2 decades, and Maternal Mortality Review Committees

In this episode of Hoosier Health Matters, hosts Gabriel Bosslet and Tracey Wilkinson discuss give kudos to Governor Braun for an executive order that beefs up parental leave for Indiana state employees. They then talk about one of the less controversial parts of SB 289 that would nonetheless completely change the face of medical education in not good ways. And they talk to Carrie Rouse, an OB GYN and member of the Maternal Mortality Review Committee about the committee and maternal mortality in Indiana.

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Hoosier Health Matters
Season 1, Episode 5
Date: 2/28/2025
Title: Dolly Parton teaches us about budget values, abolishing the menstruation tax, and the Leeroy Jenkins approach to public health at HHS

In this episode of Hoosier Health Matters, hosts Gabriel Bosslet and Tracey Wilkinson take a halftime bird's eye view of the Indiana legislative session. They talk about how Dolly Parton has felt compelled to call out the Indiana legislature for excluding her Imagination Library from their budget and what this says about our state's values and priorities. They talk to Senator Shelli Yoder about the push to eliminate the sales tax on menstrual collection devices in Indiana. And they talk about the disaster that is the current Department of Health and Human Services as measles enters the chat.

00:00- Introduction

01:23- Halftime bird's eye view of the session

04:15- Dolly Parton teaches us all about how the budget is the most tangible manifestation of Hoosier priorities

09:34- Senator Shelli Yoder talks about the push to eliminate the menstruation tax for Hoosiers

16:25- How the new HHS secretary is taking the "Leeroy Jenkins" approach to public health and how this is really, really bad

21:57- 2 things you can do this week, including at terrific substack on how to find out how to know if you are likely immune to the measles, and the Stand Up for Science rally on March 7 from 12-2 on the South Lawn of the Statehouse

23:13- Wrap up

Become a member of the Good Trouble Coalition (free!)
Donate to support the Good Trouble Coalition

Kudos to Janine Zee-Cheng for our podcast art and to Elijah Bosslet for production and editing assistance.

Thanks for listening!
Follow us on Bluesky and Instagram

Hoosier Health Matters
Season 1, Episode 10
Date: 4/4/2025
Title: How the federal government is dismantling public health (and a couple other things)

In this episode of Hoosier Health Matters, hosts Gabriel Bosslet and Tracey Wilkinson update public health news including major HHS job cuts resulting in a 25% reduction in the workforce, an update on bills heard this week, a discussion of Title X funding and what that means, and massive federal cuts to public health spending.

00:00- Introduction

1:35- updates- more measles, massive cuts to the HHS workforce

5:53- Update on SB 96, SB 2, SB 473, and HB 1003

8:57- Cuts to Title X family planning funding

16:30- Public Health funding cuts to CDC will affect Indiana significantly

22:40- Little things (call Brad Barrett and urge him to vote on SB 96)

24:02- Wrap up

Elijah Bosslet provided production and editing support on this episode.

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Hoosier Health Matters
Season 1, Episode 9
Date: 3/28/2025
Title: A favorable ruling in the TPR case and the role of pharmacists in public health

In this episode of Hoosier Health Matters, hosts Gabriel Bosslet and Tracey Wilkinson update public health news including a lawsuit opposing the Columbia NIH grant issue and a charlatan is named by an unserious person (RKF jr) to head up a(nother) study of vaccines and autism (narrator: the science is pretty settled here). They interview Veronica Vernon, a pharmacist, about the role of pharmacists in vaccination distribution and public health.

00:00- Introduction

1:46- Updates, including a lawsuit against the Trump administration by the American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors and RFK Jr names an unserious person to head up an unneeded study of vaccines and autism

4:37- A favorable ruling the Terminated Pregnancy Reports lawsuit

10:44- Senate Bill 96 and the role of pharmacists in public health: an interview with Veronica Vernon

22:10- Little things: April 1st gatherings at the statehouse, and call your federal Senators and Representatives to give your input about the HHS vaccines study

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Hoosier Health Matters
Season 1, Episode 8
Date: 3/21/2025
Title: The evolution of medicaid reform, horse dentists, and harm reduction

In this episode of Hoosier Health Matters, hosts Gabriel Bosslet and Tracey Wilkinson discuss how SB2 (medicaid reform) has changed as it has traversed the legislature. They discuss the Senate floor testimony about SCR 24 (crisis pregnancy centers), and how Senator Yoder pointed out that horse dentists are more closely regulated in Indiana than pregnancy centers. And they interview Cameron McNeely HB 1167, which decriminalizes drug test strips, about harm reduction and public health.

00:00- Introduction

1:19- updates (NIH grants cancellation, Flu shots updated but without VRBPAC input)

5:13- Senate Concurrent Resolution 24 passes, Senator Yoder points out that horse dentists are regulated more than Crisis Pregnancy Centers

9:05- Medicaid overhaul (SB2) has it's rough edges sanded down

12:57- HB 1167 allows for drug test strips and an interview with Cameron McNeely on harm reduction

22:06- 2 little things to do this week

24:31- wrap up

Audio and editing- Elijah Bosslet

HHM cover art- Janine Zee-Cheng

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