AARP Indiana Asks the Republican Candidates for Governor

AARP Indiana has released a video series entitled “AARP Asks the Candidates.” These videos, focusing on the top Republican candidates for Governor, are part of AARP Indiana’s continued efforts to ensure 50-plus voters know where candidates stand on the issues.

AARP Indiana’s non-partisan voter engagement guidelines limited participation to the candidates who registered at least 5 percent of voter support in a public statistically, significant poll that was conducted by news media or another independent organization. Polls done for a political party or candidate did not qualify.

The survey conducted by Emerson College Polling and sponsored by Nexstar Media was used to determine the participants in “AARP Asks the Candidates.” The survey was also used for the Fox 59/CBS 4 debate on March 26 which AARP Indiana sponsored.

Each candidate was asked the following questions:

Suzanne Crouch: My first job was a nurse's aide when I was in high school and college. And it was because of that experience that as a state representative, I authored a bill to provide help and tax credits for our caregivers, and it will continue when I am governor. But also as governor, I understand that our caregivers need our support, and I will be sure to have respite care for our caregivers, making sure that they can take care of their loved ones and they are being taken care of. As governor, those struggling with mental illness will be a top priority, not just for our seniors suffering from depression but from our caregivers who need our support. And then I will look as governor to work with AARP to revisit House Enrolled Act 1265, making sure that our caregivers can make informed decisions when their loved ones are getting ready to leave the hospital.

Mike Braun: So when you elect me governor, I've been working on this five years so far, plus as a senator on the Aging Committee, so we spent a lot of time with caregiving, how you plan for your future, all of that. The keystone to what I'm going to be doing is offering choice and transparency. So when it comes to family caregiving, that's becoming more and more important, and of course, you're up against the institutional caregivers. Whenever a paradigm changes, there's always going to be a tug-of-war. The old methodology is going to try to hang on. So for me, in anything, I like an even playing field, I like full transparency and the competition of how all these will work together. And especially when a family is trying to do it, that's kind of like a Main Street entrepreneur at the most basic level. I'm going to look at all that, make sure it's an even playing field, so all can do a good job at it.

Eric Doden: Well, first of all, I think one of the important things in talking with seniors that we want to focus on is doing the best that we can to keep seniors in their homes. That's the best plan for long-term care. We have a shortage of beds in the long-term care industry. We have a shortage of nursing, so helping families take care of their seniors in their homes is preferable. And I think it's preferable for most seniors that we talked to, they want to be in their homes as long as possible. Now the second thing we're going to do is we're going to work with the long-term care industry to try to do the best we can to attract more nurses to the industry. This is going to be a critical issue, very important for the long-term care industry and the long-term care of people just in general, not just in their homes but just in general. And then the third thing we're going to focus on is transparency in health care. We have a health care crisis in a bit. We have a monopoly in health care with prices rising, very little transparency, and we want to make sure that we have transparency in health care so that we can control the cost of health care for seniors.

Brad Chambers: I grew up in a family with a disabled sister, so I lived this life firsthand and watched my parents have the stresses and concerns over my sister's care in our family. And so the recent news on a $1 billion forecasting error in our Medicaid program is concerning, and you know, a kind of a miss like that would really put any business out of business. And so we need to be make sure that in the attendant care program, if there are going to be changes, that those changes are communicated, there's transparency, there's understanding of people's lives and changes and the impacts to them. We also need to evaluate other sources to address the needs of attendant care. And so in my administration, we would definitely do this. We need to make sure government takes care of our most vulnerable citizens, and that would be something I'm focused on and have experience as a child growing up with my sister.

Mike Braun: When it comes to saving for retirement, that should be something you don't wait and do until you're close to retirement. And we've become a nation, sadly, of kind of consumers and spenders. I want to make sure that every Hoosier starts early on what can even be fun: investing for the future. I did that in my own planning for that day when you're going to want to make sure that nest egg is there. Some things are going to come from government. That's even in peril. I've worked there now on Social Security. In terms of what it's going to be like, we don't know. It's got a lot of challenges ahead of it, so in all the ways you can, leading the state, you want to promote saving and investing as opposed to consuming and spending. If you don't get good at that, you're never going to be building a nest egg. And I'll use all the tools through the executive side and legislatively to make sure that that's going to be an easy job for you.

Brad Chambers: Saving for retirement is essential, and it's really changing and evolving, and we need to make sure that we're looking to the future as it relates to our retirement. I think the systems of the past are outdated. I think people are concerned about the Social Security system generally, and so we need to make sure we are building an economy of the future, we're lifting people up through higher wages, we're supporting small and medium-sized businesses and, most importantly, we're raising wages for Hoosiers. Raising wages allows people to put more money in creative and in modernized savings techniques, whether that's a 529 plan to save for college or other set plans or other retirement concepts. But we need to make sure that Hoosiers are doing this on their own in a modernized fashion for a modern economy. I am focused on raising wages for Hoosiers, building an economy of the future to lift people up and provide financial security, and making sure we have retirement products that meet that economy in the future is critically important, and I will do that.

Suzanne Crouch: As state representative, I voted for the largest property tax cut in our state's history, and it's why as governor, I will lead the fight to eliminate Indiana state income tax. We're going to ax the tax. Hoosiers are struggling today because of the high cost of living, inflation and Bidenomics. We can put thousands of dollars into your pockets every year, and that means you will be able to retire comfortably. But it doesn't have to just stop there. As governor, I'll make sure that we have retirement accounts for all Hoosiers, and I learned the importance of that when I was auditor of state and I headed up our Hoosier Start Deferred Compensation Plan, knowing it's important to have money for retirement. It's why I'll work with AARP and the General Assembly to put in place work-and-save program guaranteeing that every Hoosier has the money for retirement, can live independently and enjoy the quality of life they deserve.

Eric Doden: One of the important issues that we've learned from seniors on the campaign trail centers around property taxes and the fact that they're going up so quickly. Over the last year, property taxes have increased 15 percent, in some cases 30 percent. And for people on a fixed income, what they're telling me is 'This is putting us in jeopardy of losing our home, and we just think that's wrong.' So what we are actually proposing is that we'll work with the General Assembly to put a property tax cap on property taxes, meaning that when you're a senior, and we'll negotiate the age of what that is, you will then have your property taxes capped at the amount that you have at that moment. So if your property taxes are $1,000, there'll be $1,000 every year for the rest of your retirement in that home. And that gives you surety when you're on a fixed income to make sure that you have the ability to pay the property taxes, you know what they're going to be, and then you also then know how to plan on a fixed income for your retirement.

Eric Doden: So seniors all over Indiana are excited about our Indiana Main Street Initiative, which is the restoration of our small towns where 2 and a half million people live. For 50 years, we've ignored them and haven't had a plan for them. But here's why it's important and why seniors are excited: We restore these small towns and these historic buildings top to bottom. We put elevators in them, which allow seniors to have a very cost-effective living. These are often half the price of an apartment in a big city. And they can live in these, use the elevator and then have access to amenities and walkable amenities, so they can go to the coffee shop, they can go to the grocery store, they can go to restaurants, and they're all walkable and live within a community. And so they're very excited about that, but also what they're excited about is that this also helps the future of their kids and grandkids because they want their kids and grandkids to live in thriving, growing communities, and that's why they're excited about Indiana Main Street and our plan to restore small towns all over the state of Indiana.

Suzanne Crouch: As lieutenant governor, I chaired the Intellectual & Developmental Disability Task Force, and I have brought together stakeholders so that we look at how we can better serve that population. I will take that same experience and use it to develop a Multisector Plan on Aging that ensures that Hoosiers are able to age in place and be independent and have the resources to be able to support themselves moving into the future. Because within the next 10 years, 20 percent of our population will be elderly, and so we have to have that plan in place. AARP will have a seat at my table when I am governor to make sure that we are meeting your needs, and we will use our aging plan that we will use to be able to check where we are in progress because at the end of the day, this is about you, making sure that you're independent, that you have the choices to be able to support yourself and live the life you want to live as you get older.

Brad Chambers: The Indiana PathWays for Aging program is evolving, and it's a terrific program, but it needs to be continued to evolve, and we need to fully fund that into the future. We need to add on to it to provide more support for Hoosiers, but I'm pleased with the plan's progress so far.

Mike Braun: We need to make sure that it's fully funded so that Hoosiers have the support they need, and we will continue to do that, and I'll ensure that that happens as governor. Ironically, I'm on the task force in D.C. among about eight senators on the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act. And multisector is being talked about there in terms of something that we need to do better. What that simply means, every agency within our own state has got to be working together because if you're not talking to one another, you're probably going to have disaggregated approaches to it. It was very similar to when I was in the legislature a few years ago on workforce development. You had 15 to 20 plans, all of them trying to do the same thing, not being coordinated. So here when it comes to multisector approach, that means you take all the tools within your own state government, make sure they're communicating among one another and that you all lead to that key purpose of how you make aging in later years being better. I'm looking forward to that.