Urge Congress to Act on Indian Health Care
Your advocacy is needed to bring the health status of Native Americans up to the level of the general public. The life expectancy for American Indians and Native Alaskans is six years less than the national average, due in part to antiquated services and inadequate funding. As Bernadine Healy, the former director of the National Institutes of Health, explained, "Everything is rationed--eyeglasses, dental visits, gallbladder operations, kidney dialysis, CT scans, basic psychiatric services."
A life-saving bill, integrating medical services and funding, could pass at the end of this session of Congress. This legislation, the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (H.R. 5312/S. 1057) is currently stalled in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. We need to persuade that committee to vote to approve this legislation when they consider it next week. Because the Senate has fast-tracked the reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, action in the House could result in the reauthorization of this important legislation.
If the bill passes, community and in-home care, adequate mental health programs, and nursing home and hospice services would be provided for the first time in the poorest parts of Indian Country.
Take Action Now
Ask your member of Congress to speak with one of these U.S. Representatives: Joe Barton (TX), Richard Pombo (CA), Don Young (AK), and John Dingell (MI). These leaders can push the reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. Only one week is left to persuade these leaders.
You can find a sample message and contact your representative directly through FCNL’s website.
Background
While many Native Americans suffer from scanty health care and a delivery-of-care operation not updated for 14 years, Congress has not found time to fix the system for more than a decade. The consequences for individual Native Americans can be devastating. Recently, three stories were printed in the Congressional Record that illustrate why reauthorization of this legislation is so important..
Teenage sisters kill themselves two years apart; basic mental health treatment doesn’t exist where they lived. An 80-year-old diabetic breaks a leg so badly that a bone is sticking out-- yet has to go to three hospitals to obtain care because the doctors say the diabetic is not at risk of losing life or limb–the priority for specialized treatment.
An Indian health clinic tells a woman who is having a heart attack that she must get to the closest hospital quickly; she tries to avoid going in an ambulance because of the bill she might receive. As nurses at the hospital place her in a bed, they find a piece of paper taped to her leg. The paper with her name on it states: “You have received outpatient medical services. This letter is to inform you your care cannot be paid due to funding issues.”
The Indian Health Care Improvement Act ( H.R. 5312) is being held up in the House in part because of disputes about two issues: (a) the administration’s insistence on poor American Indians and Alaska Natives paying more to receive Medicaid and (b) dentists’ opposition to the dental aide program in Alaska. These issues should not be roadblocks to modernization of health care and to fixing a system that allows the type of suffering detailed in the three examples above.
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Contacting Legislators
Contact your members of Congress through FCNL's website.
Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
Sen. ________
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Rep. ________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Contacting the Administration
Contact the President through FCNL's website.
White House Comment Desk:
202 456-1111
Fax: 202-456-2461
White House web site
President George W. Bush
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
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