Former Indiana FSSA Director Fights Indiana Disability Care Crisis

AVON, Ind. — For twelve years, Will Colteryahn sat inside the administrative halls of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA), drafting Medicaid waiver policies and managing state programs designed to support Hoosiers with severe developmental and physical disabilities. Today, he is speaking out on the very system he once helped manage.

“I’ve been in disability services, disability advocacy for about 20 years now,” Colteryahn said. “Twelve years ago, I started at Family Social Services Administration, originally as the Director of Policy where I oversaw a lot of the Medicaid waiver policies with the Bureau of Developmental Services… it always had to do with disabilities.”

Growing up outside Pittsburgh in a former steel town, Colteryahn learned early what happens when systems fail working families. That perspective deepened over his multi-decade career in social work—including a battle with an aggressive cancer that he worked through because stepping back wasn’t an option. Today, living in Avon with his wife, a healthcare worker, and their four children, Colteryahn says recent administrative shifts within state government forced him to take his advocacy from agency conference rooms to the campaign trail.

At the center of Colteryahn’s concern is a new Medicaid waiver assessment tool rolled out by FSSA. For decades, Medicaid waivers have allowed individuals with significant intellectual, developmental, or physical disabilities to receive care in their homes and communities rather than being placed in state institutions.

Historically, annual reassessments resulted in less than 1% of waiver recipients losing eligibility. However, following the state’s rollout of its new evaluation framework, denial rates have spiked dramatically.

“It used to be when you were eligible for Medicaid waiver and you would have this assessment done yearly, less than 1% of people were found to no longer be eligible,” Colteryahn explained. “But with this new assessment tool, it’s climbed up to 10%… so far 700 Hoosiers have received denial letters, another 1,500 are in the pipeline.”

Families across Indiana report receiving sudden termination notices with little to no explanation from state officials regarding what changed in their child’s or relative’s medical condition.

Colteryahn said he kept hearing the same story over and over again: “My son or daughter has a significant disability, we were receiving waiver services… we had a new assessment done,” Colteryahn noted, recounting the feedback he receives from families. “After that assessment, we received a letter saying that we no longer are eligible for services, and nobody could explain to them what it was that changed.”

State leaders have framed recent administrative adjustments around cost containment and budget stewardship. However, disability advocates emphasize that Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) are far more cost-effective than institutional care and yield vastly superior long-term outcomes.

Colteryahn argues that targeting high-needs populations under the broad banner of fiscal oversight fundamentally misunderstands the reality of severe disabilities.

“When we’re looking at somebody with a significant disability who in another time would have been sent to a state institution… you can’t fake a 12-year-old who’s non-verbal with autism. You can’t fake being paralyzed from the neck down,” Colteryahn said. “That is not the type of person that we should be targeting.”

The policy shift has reignited broader political debate over the future of care in Indiana, including calls from some lawmakers to consider reopening state institutions—a prospect advocates fear would undo decades of progress for disability rights.

“My opponent specifically said, ‘Before I retire I want to reopen state institutions.’ When he said that, it kind of made me step back,” Colteryahn recalled. “I don’t think everyone’s picking up on how big of a statement that is and how scary that can be. I went home and signed up to run that night.”