Hoosier Health Matters
Season 1, Episode 5
Date: 2/28/2025
Title: Dolly Parton teaches us about budget values, abolishing the menstruation tax, and the Leeroy Jenkins approach to public health at HHS

In this episode of Hoosier Health Matters, hosts Gabriel Bosslet and Tracey Wilkinson take a halftime bird's eye view of the Indiana legislative session. They talk about how Dolly Parton has felt compelled to call out the Indiana legislature for excluding her Imagination Library from their budget and what this says about our state's values and priorities. They talk to Senator Shelli Yoder about the push to eliminate the sales tax on menstrual collection devices in Indiana. And they talk about the disaster that is the current Department of Health and Human Services as measles enters the chat.

00:00- Introduction

01:23- Halftime bird's eye view of the session

04:15- Dolly Parton teaches us all about how the budget is the most tangible manifestation of Hoosier priorities

09:34- Senator Shelli Yoder talks about the push to eliminate the menstruation tax for Hoosiers

16:25- How the new HHS secretary is taking the "Leeroy Jenkins" approach to public health and how this is really, really bad

21:57- 2 things you can do this week, including at terrific substack on how to find out how to know if you are likely immune to the measles, and the Stand Up for Science rally on March 7 from 12-2 on the South Lawn of the Statehouse

23:13- Wrap up

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Kudos to Janine Zee-Cheng for our podcast art and to Elijah Bosslet for production and editing assistance.

Thanks for listening!
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