https://progressiveindiana.net
SUMMARY:
With six days left until Election Day, Rev. Tony Alexander and Pastor David W. Greene Sr. open by urging listeners to vote and tying the strong early-voting turnout to rising costs: gas, groceries, utilities, rents, and health care. Greene argues the federal “Big Beautiful Bill” and Project 2025 are hitting people across the board, and both hosts say the data center fight shows a shared concern that voters are ready to act on. The second half turns to changes to the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP), Indiana’s Medicaid expansion program, which begin January 1, 2027. Alexander walks through the notice recipients are receiving from the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA): 80 hours a month of work, volunteering, school, or training, with documentation required. Greene stresses keeping copies of every document and meeting every deadline, and warns that people who lose coverage may wait months to return. Both hosts urge listeners to start saving pay stubs, volunteer records, and receipts now and to help older relatives use the FSSA website. Callers Joyce and Imhotep weigh in, with Imhotep describing hospital cuts and strains on nursing homes.
WHAT’S INSIDE
00:00:00 — Six days left to vote; preview of the HIP changes
- Alexander previews the night’s two topics: voting, and changes coming to the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP)
- Says turnout across Marion County seems “extraordinary” and encourages everyone to have a voting plan
- Greene opens in prayer for the city, state, and country and for everyone who will be affected by the Medicaid changes
- Greene asks that information reach people so they will be protected from harm
00:02:35 — Early voting turnout and vote centers
- Alexander: many early voting sites opened last weekend, a march to the polls was held, and turnout in Marion County looks good
- Says Marion County voters can vote at any vote center, not just the one near home
- Greene: gas prices, grocery prices, and the war are pushing people to say “I need to go vote”
00:04:07 — Voters feeling the pinch
- Alexander says families that once followed the head of household’s party are now paying attention because the policies affect them directly
- Cites Marjorie Taylor Greene as an example of someone breaking ranks to speak honestly about how the president’s policies have harmed Americans
- Says voters should take that mindset to the polls
00:05:10 — Greene: why people are voting now
- Greene: the Big Beautiful Bill didn’t affect only one group of people; the impact is coming “across the spectrum”
- Lists education, health care, affordability, data centers, and rising utility prices as what has people worried
- Says people usually wait for a presidential election but are choosing to send a message now because the effects are happening now, not in 2028
- Says a strong turnout would make council members think twice about backing data centers, since next year brings a council race
00:07:47 — Data centers and the pocketbook
- Alexander: data centers have been one of the few issues that has brought people together, though many other issues could have done the same over the past 10 years
- Greene: attacks on the pocketbook — gas, food, rents, health care — become personal in a way other issues don’t
- Says “the them is turning into an us” for everyone outside the top 1%
- Lists costs people are weighing: referendums, health care, interest rates, and credit card debt
- Warns that Thanksgiving and Christmas will be more expensive
00:11:09 — Souls to the Polls this Sunday
- Alexander: Marion County Souls to the Polls will take people to the township vote centers right after church this coming Sunday
- Greene says it the effort could’ve been better organized; he would have told planners to get it to pastors a week or two earlier
- Greene says he supports the effort and encourages people to participate
- Greene notes rain is forecast for Tuesday and urges people not to wait, since any vote center in the county will work
00:14:02 — Caller Joyce: vote while you can
- Joyce voted last Friday at the City-County Building and notes the county’s website doesn’t make clear who represents what
- Says tomorrow isn’t promised, so people should vote while “still sucking air”
- Alexander says many of these community issues trace back to legislators’ decisions, including Medicaid and HIP
00:15:57 — Greene on Project 2025
- Greene applauds Joyce and says the mean-spiritedness people are seeing “is in that book, Project 2025”
- Argues voting is the only way to push back, and that Project 2025 benefits only a very few
- Questions why education and health care are being cut and where the savings end up, saying the community is being told to pay more for quality
00:17:59 — “After we vote, then what?”
- Alexander reads a comment from John on the Facebook feed and says there must be a plan for after the vote
- Says he expects “shenanigans” around certifying votes or seating winners
- Notes President Trump’s remark that an unfavorable outcome would leave the country “like France,” with rioting
- Alexander says the unrest in France is about the quality of education, not elections
00:19:43 — Greene: votes are leverage over officials
- Greene says a large turnout tells candidates and officeholders where the voters are, because they “go with the people who vote”
- Says voting also lets people hold officials accountable and remove them after one term
- Asks listeners how much pain they are willing to endure from gas prices, the war, referendums, and health care costs
- Says the French unrest came from years of frustration over concerns that were never properly answered
00:23:05 — Healthy Indiana Plan changes begin January 1, 2027
- Alexander: the changes take effect January 1, 2027, but people should prepare now
- Says members will be asked for documentation covering the last quarter of this year
- Urges saving receipts and documenting volunteer hours and work hours in the way the new rules require
00:24:13 — Greene: keep paperwork and watch for FSSA notices
- Greene cites a recent article’s figure of 58,000 people not currently in compliance with new work requirements and says the goal of the changes is to reduce Medicaid enrollment, calling it part of the Project 2025 playbook
- Compares it to the child care voucher freeze under the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), which he says saved money by not adding new vouchers
- Urges members to read FSSA mailings, learn what waivers or exemptions exist, and complete the paperwork on time
- Says recertification will require tracking data every three months [Note: FSSA says HIP renews every six months and compliance is checked every three months.]
- Says to keep copies of everything, since FSSA is not fully staffed and lost paperwork could cost someone coverage
00:27:54 — Start now, and use the FSSA website
- Alexander: members who think they have until January 1 should begin documenting now
- Warns that the mail and walk-in appointments may not be reliable, citing the overwhelmed Social Security Administration after its recent changes
- Recommends learning the FSSA website, which will let members upload photos of documents and confirm they are on file
00:28:58 — Caller Joyce: “I need human interaction”
- Joyce, who was born in the 1950s, says she would have to get her grandkids to use the website and wants to talk to a person
- Says she gets constant robocalls about Medicare
00:30:22 — Helping people who aren’t computer savvy
- Alexander: some members may need a grandchild, church member, or other trusted person to upload documents, which usually takes 15 to 20 minutes from a couch
- Greene: caregivers must help because this is not a one-time event; people can qualify in January and April and lose coverage later
- Greene suggests putting deadlines on a calendar so no one is cut off over a technicality, such as a document arriving a day late
- Greene calls the process “mean-spirited” and warns that people cut off may wait six or nine months to return, with some risking their health
00:34:05 — FSSA exemptions still unclear; Denise’s comment
- Alexander says FSSA has acknowledged that the exemptions are not yet clear even as the rollout begins
- Reads a chat comment from Denise about baby boomers entering the nursing home system
- Notes a lawyer to help with this process can cost about $400, and says the show hopes to spare listeners that expense
- Alexander says that, as Greene said before the break, people are going to die
00:35:54 — Caller Imhotep: voting and the health care cuts
- Imhotep, who works in health care, says some people tell him their vote doesn’t matter, and breaks it down: mayors produce police, and prosecutors, school boards, assessors, and councils all come from local votes
- Says politicians must “meet people where they are”
- Says the health care cuts trace back to the “big, ugly bill,” and claims 80% of IU Health’s revenue comes through Medicare and Medicaid
- Says friends who work in surgery report slowdowns, nurses sent home, and emergency rooms turning people away unless they have a heart attack, stroke, or major accident
- Says nursing homes are absorbing costs for people with substance use disorders who are too young for Medicare and don’t qualify for the Medicaid waiver, and tells families to “buckle up” as the sandwich generation
00:39:44 — Greene responds; the 80-hour requirement
- Greene says Imhotep spoke truth and that others in the field confirm it
- Alexander shows the plain FSSA letter and reads the requirement: 80 hours a month of work, community service or volunteering, school or job training, or a work program, which can be combined
- Alexander also cites a $580 monthly income figure [Note: FSSA describes $580 (federal minimum wage × 80 hours) as an alternative to 80 hours of activities, not an additional requirement.]
00:42:06 — Greene: documents, AI, and disappearing jobs
- Greene: keep pay stubs, because recertification will ask for proof of work
- Finds it ironic that unemployment is up, especially among Black workers, while AI and kiosks eliminate jobs at the same time the state demands proof of work
- Questions whether 58,000 people can find work, noting many on Medicaid have disabilities that limit them to certain jobs
00:44:30 — Competing for jobs: layoffs and automation
- Alexander says Microsoft is offering buyouts to 60,000 employees, and that UPS and Apple have cut jobs, so Medicaid recipients will compete with laid-off workers
- Greene: where are the jobs for people with limited skills or disabilities, and how long will they exist as technology replaces them
- Says reaching a human is becoming something people pay extra for, citing an AI service advisor and restaurant kiosks
- Notes volunteering may be key for meeting the requirement
00:48:22 — Renewal timing and navigating online accounts
- Alexander: the FSSA notice gives an example in which a May 2027 renewal requires showing three previous months of compliance
- Says someone with a January renewal should start collecting documents now and have someone help upload them
- Shares a tip: when he calls customer service, he looks at his online account so both he and the representative see the same screen
00:49:43 — Closing: vote and share the Medicaid information
- Greene’s closing: go vote, and share the Medicaid information with everyone you know
- Says “what you don’t know can kill you,” and people must get started now to avoid being cut off and having to get back on
- Alexander says the show will return to the topic and urges listeners to tell their loved ones
