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Protestors gather outside the Author’s Room in the Indiana State Library after a press conference with Gov. Mike Braun, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. (Photo/Anna Cecil of TheStatehouseFile.com)

This story was originally published by TheStatehouseFile.com

By Anna Cecil
TheStatehouseFile.com
April 15, 2025

The chants, cheers and shouts of protestors in the hallways of Indiana’s usually quiet state library could be heard through the heavy wooden doors of the Author’s Room as Gov. Mike Braun, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz announced new initiatives they hope will “Make Indiana Healthy Again.”

Inside the room’s bookcase-lined walls, the plans of Braun and his out-of-town guests were met with applause, but gathered outside, Hoosier moms, grandmothers, veterans, medical students, scientists and others loudly expressed their concerns.

When Indiana’s lawmakers left the press conference, they were met with shouts from protesters, who accused them of supporting fascists and denying science.

Advocates for Medicaid and Medicare 

Wade Catt, an Indiana University School of Medicine third-year student who was dressed in his white coat, said he was at the Indiana State Library to protest federal-level efforts that aim to defund Medicare and Medicaid—so private insurance companies can be richer, he said.

Wade was referring to the federal budget, which says it will find $880 billion in cuts over the next 10 years. Since Medicaid is one of the largest areas of federal spending, people like Catt are afraid it will be targeted in those cuts.

Emily O’Malley, a worker in public health, said she wanted to protest health-care-related cuts because people who work minimum-wage jobs in the U.S. can’t afford to get the care they need without help from the government.

“They’re just trying to get help,” she said, “just trying to see the doctor.”

Catt and O’Malley were also against Senate Bill 2, which would put limits on the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP), a health insurance program for low-income Hoosiers.

“If they were serious about making America healthy again, then they would be funding these programs,” Catt said.

Advocates for science 

Darby Chodakowski, a mom and school counselor who took the day off to protest, said she was there to fight for the futures of her kids and students because she does not like the direction the country’s health-care system is headed.

She held a sign that said, “Evidence based decisions, NOT ideology!”

“There are kids there (her school) that need a counselor right now, but also they have a future where they are going to need evidence-based mental-health care or need evidence-based preventative care,” Chodakowski said.

Several protestors at the rally held signs that mentioned vaccines, which are a controversial topic for Kennedy, who has historically encouraged parents not to vaccinate their children due a debunked claim that vaccines cause autism.

“I think today is about science, of course, trusting science over conspiracy,” protester Amy Hammerle said. “Vaccines work.”