Brad Byrd:
“Governor Holcomb, President Trump today [Thursday] signed an executive order, in effect dismantling the Affordable Care Act. Details on how this will, or will not, work are still sketchy. Your take Governor, will this be beneficial for Indiana.”
Gov. Holcomb:
“Well, I don’t want to speak for the President of the United States, but I can only imagine he’s expressing some frustration by lack of progress. We’ve noted, kind of, time and time again that as some premiums have gone up and some markets have collapsed, this isn’t working as designed, or as told, so what I have advocated, from day one, is to have a more state based, meaning more control more freedom more flexibility from the states. I think we can treat our state’s population with much more care, actually more compassion, treat them more personable, not numbers out of Washington D.C. I’m anxious for more to be done, quite frankly, and the sooner that we can get the responsibility and the control, again, freedom and that flexibility for us, a state like Indiana has proven that we can make reforms that actually work. A lot of folks around the country are talking about what we have done here to provide good healthcare which covers pre-existing conditions, continue a Healthy Indiana Program, 2.0 right now, now it’s in its second draft. It started under two predecessors ago, got former Governor Mitch Daniels, then it was reformed under now Vice President Mike Pence. But we have to look at what healthcare will look like, is it sustainable, not just next year, but five years from now, ten years from now, 20 years from now, I think the states can do a better job. With this latest action by the president, I think that he is showing that he will act.”
Brad Byrd:
“Technically, pre-existing conditions will be covered, but will those premiums for those individuals with pre-existing conditions, if it is controlled by the state, will those premiums go up to the point where it’s not affordable?”
Gov. Holcomb:
“On my watch, I wanna make sure that we continue to do that, to cover that.”
Brad Byrd:
“Our labor force right now in Indiana, one of your priorities has been to – the jobs are becoming more and more high tech, but we don’t have the workers skilled to take those jobs. How are you gonna turn that around?”
Gov. Holcomb:
“Well, we’ve taken some giant steps forward on that front, that really and truly is not just Indiana’s Achilles heel, but it’s every state in the nation’s Achilles heel. It’s a challenge, but it’s also an opportunity. When we get this right, and we are, when we not just pay attention to those 92,000 unfilled jobs right now in addition to that, we’ve got more jobs in the pipeline coming on board this year, next year, the year after that, and the year after for the next five years, so we know that that 92,000 is going to grow. We also know that the pace of change that you allude to is coming at us. This 21st century jobs, big data, the cloud, technology, automation, artificial intelligence, this is making our places of business more efficient for sure, but we have to make sure that we’re not just a state that knows how to grow, and make things in an advanced manufacturing environment but that we’re also creating that technology.”
Brad:
“That takes us right to education now.”
Gov. Holcomb:
“That takes us to education and training. This starts in my mind pre-k and it goes all the way through to high school with a diploma deciding if you’re gonna go to college or if you’re gonna go right into a career. We rolled out a couple of grants. One for employees and one for employers and we said the state of Indiana, if you’ll put the time in and get skilled up in these five sectors that are growing, high wage high skill jobs, that are there now, the state of Indiana will pay a hundred percent for you to go get those certificates, that training at Ivy Tech or Vincennes University. That’s gonna, we’ve had a 151,000 Hoosiers go to www.nextleveljobs.org expressing their interest to get skilled up, to grab hold of that next rung on that ladder.”
Brad:
“Let’s talk about our kids though, in public education. The teachers that I’ve talked to, some of the students that I’ve talked to, and parents, there is that perception that in the classroom, student’s time, is often devoted to, “how am I going to take this test?” Testing. There have to betests, but with that being said, the learning process, has that suffered and how is that changing?”
Gov. Holcomb:
“I think we’re getting back on track. You certainly don’t want to teach to the test, and you certainly don’t want to drown in just preparing for a test, that’s not learning, that’s memorizing. I think we’re getting this right, we absolutely, it’s a balance, we absolutely have to be straight with parents and the community that the schools, that are operating in our community are turning out exactly what the regional demand is, so that our young adults are equipped to meet those 21st century demands, and so we’re moving in the right direction. Certainly, there’s gotta be both, we’ve gotta measure, be able to measure progress, we have to be able to measure growth, to know what you know. But we don’t want to be so lopsided, you’re finding yourself on this treadmill you’re measuring for a test.”
Brad:
“The state and climate of politics in our country, especially on the national level, though this may be deemed a national issue, it does trickle down locally. What’s your take? You were caught in the whirlwind of this last year. You were a former Republican state chair here in Indiana, lieutenant governor, now you’re governor, all of this was technically related to what happened in 2016 in that presidential election. Being a Republican governor, the state of the Republican party and what’s going on in Washington, are you bothered by that?”
Gov. Holcomb:
“Well, I try to pay attention to my own little sand box here, and I think we’re more than trying, we’re leading by example. There’s so much good occurring on Hoosier soil and I say, I just trace that back to good working relationships with folks on both sides of the aisle, to be quite frank, my lieutenant governor, Suzanne Crouch, hometown hero here, she likened this last legislative session to the most collaborative, substantive session that she’d been involved in. “
Brad:
“Infrastructure, which is one of your priorities, but that has also been outlined by President Trump as one of his top priorities, but he’s got to work with congress to do that, and those seem to be very polarizing sides right now and they have been since Mister Trump took office. Indiana depends on that federal money, so how do you work with that situation that’s emanating from D.C.?”
Gov. Holcomb:
“We try to do our part, and we are, and we’re very active in the conversation, and we participate and I’m as helpful as I can, not just for Indiana but, of course, for America. We find ourselves in the middle of the country, we’re in the middle of it all, we’re the crossroads of America, but that can’t just be a motto, that’s gotta be our mission and we’re proving – we just passed an unprecedented, historic 20-year program. No other state in the country can lay claim to such an expansive program, and it’s not debt finding us, it’s paid for. The local communities, whether it be Vanderburgh County, or Evansville, or Warrick County, or Newburgh or New Harmony, they’re receiving both local and receiving state funding to build out our infrastructure. And I would say Indiana has got the blueprint and all eyes in the country should be looking at Indiana and how we’re getting it done.”
Brad:
“Finally, do you talk to your predecessor much?”
Gov. Holcomb:
“I do on occasion, yes. And he pays close attention to all the progress we’re making here in Indiana and I have, as I always will, offer to help where he needs it.”
Brad:
“Okay, were you at the Colts game this past Sunday?”
Gov. Holcomb:
“I was. Indeed.”
Brad:
“Just tell me, what did you think about that? The vice president getting up in the middle of that. Your first initial take.”
Gov. Holcomb:
“I completely understand where he was coming from. I stayed until the winning kick by Adam in overtime. I will always stand proud when the national anthem is being played. Too many have given too much for me to do otherwise.”
(This story was originally published on Oct. 12, 2017)