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What does the state need to do to boost Indiana’s per capita income, which continues to lag the nation’s?
As a Main Street entrepreneur, I have spent my entire life creating well-paying jobs while providing affordable health care to hundreds of Hoosiers in my hometown of Jasper.
Today, I am running to lead Indiana, hoping to be the most entrepreneurial governor our state has ever seen.
As governor, one of my top priorities is to reduce the cost of health care and prescription drug prices because it impedes household spending, and by lowering the cost of health care, employers can invest more in their employees. I know this is true because, in my own business, we took on high health care costs, and our premiums never increased while our wages always went up. We also emphasized wellness, prevention and employees becoming health care consumers.
We also need a leader willing to look at how every penny is spent in the state and reduce any costs that are redundant to save taxpayers’ dollars. Once that is accomplished, we can work on further reducing our state income tax so we provide the best services at the lowest costs, just like I did in my own business.
When it comes to education, we need to invest in our schools and higher education but also foster learning opportunities for those who want to pursue a career in welding, plumbing, manufacturing and well-paying technical jobs that do not require a four-year degree. When it comes to four-year degrees, we need to produce more STEM degrees because the market is asking for it.
Touring all 92 counties every year, I’ve seen great examples of career and technical education programs in high schools that prepare students to hit the ground running in jobs that Hoosier manufacturers need filled today. Far too many of our high school graduates are not prepared to enter the workforce or pursue a degree.
Indiana should be partnering with homegrown industries and businesses that are committed to growing jobs here in Indiana and the United States.
By focusing on solutions to reduce the cost of health care, being a good steward of taxpayer resources and focusing on opportunities to educate our entire workforce, we can make Indiana better than it’s ever been.
As your next governor, I will build on what has worked and invest in entrepreneurship and growing jobs so that Indiana is the leader in the Midwest of small and medium-size businesses that invest in their locally grown workforce.•
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Braun, a Republicn, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018. Before that, he was the founder and CEO of Jasper-based Meyer Distributing. Send comments on this column to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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What are the steps to reduce the cost of health care? I didn’t see anything spelled out. Without a specified plan, it’s just noise.
We should all be delighted to hear that Senator Braun appears to support a regulatory and governmental-interventionist (rather than market-based) approach to reduce health care costs. This is the very approach that Republicans have demonized as “Obamacare,” the regulation of insurance markets for example. President Biden has also supported regulating drug prices, for example caps on insulin prices for senior citizens—which Mike Braun voted against. Reporters and citizens should demand detailed answers from Senator Braun about his positions