Ten hours before the spending bill that funds the Indian
\nHealth Service was set to expire, potentially leaving more than 2.5 million
\nNative Americans without health care access, Congress came through with a
\nhistoric win for Indian Country.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Dec. 22, the Senate passed President Joe
\nBiden\u2019s $1.7 trillion Omnibus spending bill that will fund the government
\nthrough most of 2023. Included in that bill is a significant policy change for
\nIndian Country: $9.5 billion in advance appropriations available to the Indian
\nHealth Service (IHS) over the next two years. The House passed the bill around
\n2 p.m. EST on Dec. 23, sending it to be signed by President Biden before a
\ngovernment shutdown that would begin tonight at midnight.<\/p>\n
Advance appropriations signify a major departure from how
\nthe federal government has historically funded IHS, which is the only major
\nfederal healthcare program subject to annual appropriations. <\/p>\n
Those annual appropriations make tribes vulnerable to budget
\nuncertainties and government shutdowns. In December 2018, when the federal
\ngovernment shut down for a record-breaking 35 days, IHS was unable to provide
\nfunding to tribal healthcare operations and, as a result, many tribal
\nhealthcare employees were furloughed, and tribal citizens were unable to get
\nproper care.<\/p>\n
\u201cPredictable funding will allow us to disburse funds more
\nquickly and enable IHS, tribal and urban Indian health programs to effectively
\nand efficiently manage budgets, coordinate care and improve health outcomes for
\nAmerican Indians and Alaska Natives,\u201d IHS Director Roselyn Tso said in a
\nstatement to Native News Online<\/i>. \u201cThis predictability is especially
\nimportant during a lapse in appropriations or a continuing resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Advance appropriations are a budgetary solution that tribal
\nleaders have advocated for for about a decade. They allow for new funding to
\nbecome available one year or more after the year of the appropriations act in
\nwhich it is contained.<\/p>\n
Leaders at the National Indian Health Board, the National
\nCouncil of Urban Indian Health, and The National Congress of American Indians
\ncelebrated the hard-fought win in a joint press release on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIncluding advance appropriations for Indian health in the
\nomnibus is a historic moment for Indian Country over a decade in the making,\u201d
\nNational Indian Health Board (NIHB) President William Smith (Valdez Native
\nTribe), said in a statement. \u201cWhile Indian health remains chronically
\nunderfunded, this provision will help ensure that the Indian Health Service can
\nprovide stable, uninterrupted care to our people even when there is a
\ngovernment shutdown. We are confident that we can build on this win and
\ncontinue our work toward full and mandatory funding for the Indian Health
\nService, fulfilling the promises this country made to our people over two
\ncenturies ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former NIHB Director of Government Relations Aaron Payment
\n(Sault Ste. Tribe of Chippewa Indians), called Congressional passage of advance
\nappropriations for IHS funding \u201ca monumental first step\u201d in fulfillment of
\ntreaty obligations. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe funding tribes receive is nominal compared to the
\nvaluation of the hundreds of million acres tribes ceded,\u201d Payment told Native
\nNews Online. \u201cWithholding our funding is an abrogation of the treaty and trust
\nobligation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additionally, Payment added, \u201cthe jagged pill is just for
\nthe first year.\u201d In subsequent years, Congress will allocate funding as usual,
\nbecause IHS will already have been ahead by one year. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that after the first year that there won’t be
\nany issues,\u201d Payment said. \u201cThen we’ll move on to advance appropriations for
\nthe Interior, and BIE, and any tribal funding under EPA. All of our funding
\nshould be advance-appropriated, and it should also be mandated.\u201d<\/p>\n
The move also puts IHS on equal footing with other major
\nfederal healthcare programs such as The Veterans Health Administration,
\nMedicare, and Medicaid. The Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare programs
\nhave been funded with advance appropriations since 2010. Medicare and Medicaid
\nboth receive mandatory funding.<\/p>\n
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), told Native News Online
\nthat government shutdowns in 2018 and 2019 were the force that gave Congress
\nthe momentum to finally move forward with advance appropriations for IHS.<\/p>\n
Merkley proposed advance appropriations for Indian Health
\nService in his fiscal year 2022 Senate Interior, Environment, and Related
\nAgencies appropriations bill. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt became clear when I took over the Interior Subcommittee,
\nI wanted to say it’s not acceptable for our responsibilities for the US
\ngovernment to provide health care services to the tribes,\u201d Merkley said. \u201cIt\u2019s
\nnot acceptable for that funding to lapse. Quite frankly, we have a model for
\naddressing this, which is the Department of Veterans Affairs. We had a good
\nexample of the tool to use, we just had to persuade everyone that we needed to
\nuse it.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ten hours before the spending bill that funds the Indian Health Service was set to expire, potentially leaving more than 2.5 million Native Americans without health care access, Congress came through with a historic win for Indian Country. On Thursday, Dec. 22, the Senate passed President Joe Biden\u2019s $1.7 trillion Omnibus spending bill that will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n