Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, Gov. Mike Braun and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, unveiled the "Make Indiana Healthy Again" initiative.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, joined Gov. Mike Braun at the Indiana State Library on Tuesday to help launch a "Make Indiana Healthy Again" initiative.
 
“Thank you, Governor Braun, for your courageous and visionary leadership to Make Indiana Healthy Again,” said Kennedy. “I urge every governor across America to follow your lead by signing similar executive orders in their states to improve nutrition standards in SNAP, increase transparency around food dyes and additives, implement physical fitness tests in schools, expand farm-to-school programs, and embrace the full scope of your transformative health agenda. Together, we can Make America Healthy Again.”

Indiana is among the first to take up Kennedy’s call for states to seek waivers from USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service to modify rules governing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. 

Braun announced nine executive orders surrounding the initiative:

• Funneling SNAP recipients exempt from work requirements into a state job training program
• Reinstating income and asset verification for SNAP eligibility
• Ordering the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) to make recommendations to the USDA to overhaul federal rules on state administration of SNAP
• Excluding candy and soft drinks from SNAP benefits
• Ordering the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) to study the possible negative effects of food dyes and additives
• Ordering a state study of diet-related chronic illness
• Increasing access to direct-to-consumer food from local Indiana farms
• Establishing the Governor’s Fitness Test and School Fitness Month
• Reducing Medicaid eligibility errors

“We’re delighted to work with our state and local partners, who are critical to advancing the Make America Healthy Again agenda,” said Dr. Oz. “By prioritizing prevention, proper nutrition, and healthy lifestyle choices, we can set our younger generations up for a lifetime of success.”

Braun’s office has been collaborating with the General Assembly on Senate Bill (SB) 2, which reinstates work requirements for the Healthy Indiana Plan and calls for tighter scrutiny of Medicaid eligibility. The bill is expected to reach Braun’s desk next week.