An Expiration Date on Health?
10 February 2008Here in America, turning “sweet sixteen” is a coming of age; a rite of passage into a new phase of life and the beginning of what we hope to be great. However, for the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA), it has been sixteen years since it was last authorized in 1992. And it is about time that the IHCIA enters its own “sweet sixteen” by being reauthorized. It would be an end to a deteriorating health system, and a new beginning of improved healthcare for the American Indian and Alaska Native people. The Act had expired in the year 2000, and since then, its renewal has met opposition from the Bush administration.
Why Reauthorize?
The reauthorization of the IHCIA would authorize additional resources to tribal communities to address suicide among Indian youth. According to an article from “Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine” (Iris Wagman Borowsky, MD, PhD; Michael D. Resnick, PhD; Marjorie Ireland, PhD; Robert W. Blum, MD, PhD – Vol. 153 No.6, June 1999), American Indians and Alaska Natives have the highest suicide rate of all ethnic groups in the United States. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for American Indian and Alaska Native youth.
Reauthorization would address the lack of access to health care due to a limited supply of federal funding. Since 1992, the Native population the United States has more than doubled. Unfortunately, medical treatment and facilities have been unable to keep up with the growing population, thus creating a situation where patients must wait several months before receiving proper medical and/or dental care.
Reauthorization would also:
- address the $1 billion backlog in needed health care facilities, such as alcohol and substance abuse treatment centers, and $1 billion in unmet need for sanitation facilities in tribal communities,
- make permanent a number of successful federal programs providing services to Native Americans in long-term health care, diabetes prevention, and other key areas,
- expand scholarship and loan programs that encourage more American Indian and Alaska Native people to enter health care professions.
The IHCIA was created to provide the programmatic foundation for health programs for American Indians and Native Alaskans, the hiring of health professionals to practice in Indian County, and coordinate financing with other government funded programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children’s Health programs. For the IHCIA to meet the current needs of the American Indian and Alaska Native people, it must be reauthorized. Without the reauthorization, diabetic and cancer patients will have to wait longer to be treated, alcohol and substance abuse will continue to rise, pregnant mothers will not have adequate access to prenatal care, and many other health related issues will continue to rise negatively affecting the entire American Indian and Alaska Native people.
At an Indian Country rally held on September 13, 2007 at the U.S. Capitol, Senator Max Baucus (MT), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, quoted a passage from Thomas Jefferson’s 1802 address to Indian nations:
‘Made by the same Great Spirit and living in the same land with our brothers … we consider ourselves as of the same family; we wish … to cherish their interest as our own.’ But when it comes to the health care of our Native American brethren, the government has hardly cherished their interests as our own… We owe the first inhabitants of this nation better access to quality health care.
IHCIA Reauthorization Progress
On January 22nd and 23rd 2008, the National Indian Health Board (NIHB) reported on the senate floor action of IHCIA S. 1200. Despite tremendous support of senate leadership and remarks by nineteen senators, the senate moved off S. 1200 to handle the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the Economic Stimulus Package. What’s the dilemma? The senate has not completed the necessary business on this legislation.
On February 7, 2008, Senators Reid, Dorgan, Thune and Kyl urged the president to bring this legislation back to the Senate floor, hopefully sometime within the next week. As Sally Smith, NIHB Chair, and Joe Garcia, National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) President, has stated:
The Senate consideration of S. 1200, a bill to reauthorize and modernize the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, is a historic moment. For nearly a decade, Tribal leaders have been working to reauthorize the bill that serves as the underlying authority for the Federal government’s responsibility to provide health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives. We have worked on this bill for years. It has been negotiated, amended, revised, wordsmithed and compromised. It is now in the hands of Senate leadership and we want them to move the bill.
Actions and Resources
If you would like to assist in the urgency of moving this bill to the Senate floor, the Senate needs to hear from Indian Country: “Move this bill!” To do so, you can:
Call this toll free number: 1-800-828-0498. Ask to be contacted to your Senate office. Tell your Senator to support S. 1200 (IHCIA).
For more information regarding the importance of the reauthorization of the IHIAC, you can visit the following resources:
Indian Country rallies for health care in U.S. Capitol
United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs – Press Release January 18, 2008
Indian Country Today – “Pass Indian Healthcare Improvement Act Now” January 25, 2008
National Congress of American Indians
Friends Committee on National Legislation – “Information on Modernizing Indian Health Care System” October 18, 2007
National Indian Health Board – IHCIA Reauthorization 2008 Updates and Correspondence
Kim L. Jenish
Policy Analyst Intern
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