DISQUS

DLS · 6 months ago

This story was in today's Detroit News, page 9A. ("Don't get sick after June.")

For a long time I have said that we need to look not only at Medicare but also at the Veterans' Administration and at the Indian Health Service, in addition to Medicaid, to see what federal government health care (or indirectly through state governments) will be like, at least initially, and I've said that the logical thing to do sometime is to fold not only Medicaid and VA but Indian Health into Medicare.

Well, now Indian Health is being discovered by others, I guess. [sigh] What a surprise, suddenly.

The problem isn't necessarily any shameful misconduct by the federal government, but neglect and the problem of finding money to pay for this.

archangel · 6 months ago

Living in the southwest, many of the tribes, which are communal, and are soveign nations within the USA, (meaning dont pay taxes, are exempt from many laws, etc.) have significant money from their shares from casinos, and related tourist money, in addition to money in the form of many programs from the Federal government, including money from their government contracts, including mining contracts, water, waste etc. ( I despise the fact that the rez's seem pressured by govt to create their own income by taking care of or giving in to what people in, say, Scarsdale, or even in Cheyenne, would fight tooth and nail to eliminate from their home spaces)

Likely what's needed is a 50 year audit of the BIA, (Bureau of Indian Affairs) and all its sub-programs for Native Americans, including Indian Health Services. I think there would be shock about how much money has been forwarded for the last 50 years, and how it actually has been used.... not to build infrastructure, education and job training, not to bring teaching about how to build and run state of the art med facilities, and especially not to build true and complete independence from 'the other nation's government.'

I've taught 2nd and 3rd year medical residents, some of whom cant wait to go help 'real indians' on the Indian Health Services routes. The US government/ taxpayers pay their salaries also. They have healing skills, but they dont have what is needed most on the rez: teaching tribal members how to care for the tribe by constructing facilities, manning them with qualified tribal members, teaching preventative health care through the tribal leaders, instituting a program of native visiting nurses and docs. And on. And on.

For the money poured in to 'save the Indians' each year of every decade... each pueblo, rez and tribal group could have been state of the art in education and health facilities 30 years ago.

Something's wrong. Several somethings. Rosebud is still impoverished after all these years. The 'traditionals' on the Navajo rez are still threadbare and half starving in winter. The funds flow from the feds to the tribal hierarchy. And it's not just that more and more Federal funds are needed.

dr.e

DLS · 6 months ago

"I've taught 2nd and 3rd year medical residents, some of whom cant wait to go help 'real indians' on the Indian Health Services routes. The US government/ taxpayers pay their salaries also."

To diverge somewhat just once here on this thread, note that there are problems in white areas as well in the depopulating Great Plains and other such places, as well as among all ethnic groups in central cities. There will be controversy but it seems to me that any thorough Obamanian health care reform may address a lack of health care and either offer programs of med school payment in exchange for four or five years, say, in underserved areas, or (because the federal government may control assignments of residencies after med school graduation, and could do more if it chose) the feds might simply direct people to practice (hence also to live) in underserved areas at the start of their careers (four or five years, say) as well as during their residencies.

rathan006 · 5 months ago

red indians are the natives