Indiana has received approval to continue its Healthy Indiana Plan, or HIP, for 10 more years. The state says this will help continue health coverage for more than 500,000 low-income adult Hoosiers.

The recently approved HIP waiver runs through December 2030. Normally, the waiver is approved every three to four years.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved the waiver. It also gave five-year extensions to other programs that provide treatment for substance use disorder and serious mental illness.

Preventive health is a focus of HIP, making access to care such as mammograms, vaccines and smoking cessation a priority.

The Healthy Indiana Plan covers Indiana adults who meet certain income and other requirements.

HIP started enrolling adults under Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2008 and expanded by then-Gov. Mike Pence in 2015.

Contact reporter Bárbara at banguiano@lakeshorepublicmedia or follow her on Twitter at @radiospice219.