Indiana is one of 20 states suing the federal government over the health care reform law, and state officials’ distaste for the law is evident in the new website purportedly posted as an information resource.

Hoosiers should look elsewhere for balanced, useful information.

A rather foreboding photo of a masked health care worker confronts visitors to www.in.gov/aca/ – the website posted by Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration. A news release last month said the site would “provide information related to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the impact it will have on health care delivery in the state.”

But there’s little information available, and details on the effects amount to little more than the tired doomsday predictions made by the bill’s opponents – which, not coincidentally, include Gov. Mitch Daniels. There’s a handy link to “provide feedback on the ACA, or if you have questions or concerns about what the ACA will mean to you.”

Prominently featured are the results of a study estimating Indiana’s share of Medicaid costs will increase by $200 million over the next decade, a study criticized for overestimating the number of Hoosiers eligible.

The link for “About the Affordable Care Act” simply leads visitors to the 974-page law.

Granted, President Obama and Congress did the nation no favor in approving a health care reform package that is so difficult to understand. But the Affordable Care Act is now law, and the best service public officials can offer is to ensure that health-care consumers know how it will affect them.

The Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit foundation focused on U.S. health issues, manages to do just that with a summary on its Focus on Health Reform site. Kaiser directs its own research programs to analyze policy, serves as an information clearinghouse and develops and runs public health information campaigns.

The summary explains the overall approach to the law and outlines individual and employer requirements. From a consumer standpoint, it is helpful in explaining the expansion of public programs such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The summary addresses one of the most controversial provisions of the law in prohibiting federal funds for abortion coverage and also notes that verification of both income and citizenship status are required in determining eligibility for federal credits.

There’s also a link to Kaiser’s state-by-state analysis of Medicaid coverage and spending, with the conclusion that “Increases in state spending are small compared to increases in coverage and federal revenues and relative to what states would have spent if reform had not been enacted.”

The federal government also has a website, www.healthcare.gov, with helpful information about the new law, but those who did not support reform will likely prefer an independent source for details.

The landmark legislation will continue to draw criticism and breed suspicion, but Hoosiers will be best served by looking to impartial sources for information on how they might benefit and how they might pay.