INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana University Public Policy Institute’s Center for Civic Literacy is helping Hoosier voters better understand key policy issues and potential solutions through its Decision 2024: Your Voices, Your Future series. PPI’s final three of seven reports examine healthcare in Indiana, how communities can become more resilient to adversity, and the reasons for and implications of loss of trust in public institutions.
In its report on Hoosier healthcare, authors explore some of the most pressing health-related issues in Indiana, including limited food access, health insurance, infant/maternal healthcare, and substance use treatment.
- Roughly 7% of Hoosiers were not enrolled in health insurance in 2022.
- Indiana’s infant mortality rate is consistently higher than the national rate (7.2 vs. 5.4 deaths per 1,000 births in 2022).
- Indiana’s rate of opioid-related overdose deaths also is higher than the national average (34.2 vs. 24.7 deaths per 100,000 in 2021).
- In 2023, 12% of Hoosier households were food insecure, and 5% had very low food security.
In its report on community resiliency, faculty within the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs examined the growing number of environmental, economic, health, and infrastructure challenges Hoosier communities face. The authors found that to be competitive, communities must be able to bounce back and adapt to reduce impact over time. They say that happens by addressing the ways in which communities are built, how they work with the natural environment, as well as their economies, institutional capacity, and social capacity and equity. Much of this adaptation relies on leaders within state government, local government, businesses, nonprofits, to collaborate and work with residents to find collective solutions.
The final report explores the loss of public trust in institutions and the impact on the future of the nation’s democratic system. This brief identifies the challenges public institutions face, the threats to society when trust in those institutions is diminished or lost, and how confidence in them can be restored.
PPI collaborated with organizations around Indiana and faculty across Indiana University to develop the topics and reports. The resulting seven publications provide important context and background on key policy topics. Previously released reports on childcare, housing, and Indiana’s workforce and tech economy are available online.
The reports also served as the base for PPI’s 2024 Gubernatorial Forum, featuring interviews with Jennifer McCormick (D), Sen. Mike Braun (R), and Donald Rainwater (L). The forum is available online via go.iu.edu/forum2024playlist.
