September 19, 2007
Inadequate Health Care for Native Americans
From indiancountry.com:
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., addressed IHS officials at a field hearing Aug. 16 on the Crow Nation Reservation.
"I am out of patience with the inadequate health care for Native Americans; we don't have a lot of time," Dorgan said.
Tester, the freshman senator and a member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, said that tribes signed treaties with the federal government and gave up land in exchange for services like health care.
And later in the article.
A top issue with health care is contract health - when funds run out mid-year, people have to wait for treatment until the next funding cycle unless they are threatened with loss of life or limb.
Contract health service funds are made available when a service unit is not equipped to handle a particular health issue. The patient is then referred out of the system and the contract funds will pay for the treatment. In most cases, this involves surgery and diagnostic tests.
The Crow Nation, according to Venne, was out of contract funds in the first part of June. Patients then must wait until November to receive special treatments. The wait for non-Indians to receive this type of care can be as much as three months, but for American Indians who use the IHS system, a 13-month wait is not unusual.