Authors: National Council of Urban Indian Health

Publication Year: 2009

Last Updated: 2010-09-02 11:08:27

Journal: NCUIH

Keywords: Native Health Care, UIHP, Urban Indian Health Program, IHCIA, Indian Health Care Improvement Act, Urban Indians, American Indians

Short Abstract:

A small but critical link in Native health care. Although the Urban Indian Health Program (UIHP) constitutes only 1% of the Indian Health Service budget, it provides an important link in the circle of health services that connects the reservation Indian population and the Urban Indian population (between which there is an ongoing mixing and movement). Removing Urban Indians from the IHCIA would also be a complete financial debacle for Tribal Programs nation-wide. This proved to be the case with the closing of the IHS operated urban facility in Albuquerque in 2005. Urban Indians were forced to return to reservations to obtain medical care, consuming the scarce resources available in the already overburdened Tribal facilities. The end result of the closing of this urban facility was indeed financial chaos for a series of Tribes; especially if we consider that- according to the 2000 Census- 67 % of Americans identifying themselves as of American Indian or Alaska Native heritage live in urban areas. The UIHP has been a fixture of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act since its initial passage in 1976, principally serving urban Indian communities in those cities where the Federal government relocated Indians during the 1960s and 1970s. Although the UIHP overwhelmingly serves citizens of federally recognized tribes, it has the authority to serve other Native Americans, largely those who have descended from the Federal relocatees. S. 1200 provides a modest expansion of authority for the UIHP to engage in a wider array of health related programs, consistent with the many changes that have occurred in health delivery in the United States since the IHCIA was last reauthorized fourteen years ago.

Abstract:

A small but critical link in Native health care. Although the Urban Indian Health Program (UIHP) constitutes only 1% of the Indian Health Service budget, it provides an important link in the circle of health services that connects the reservation Indian population and the Urban Indian population (between which there is an ongoing mixing and movement). Removing Urban Indians from the IHCIA would also be a complete financial debacle for Tribal Programs nation-wide. This proved to be the case with the closing of the IHS operated urban facility in Albuquerque in 2005. Urban Indians were forced to return to reservations to obtain medical care, consuming the scarce resources available in the already overburdened Tribal facilities. The end result of the closing of this urban facility was indeed financial chaos for a series of Tribes; especially if we consider that- according to the 2000 Census- 67 % of Americans identifying themselves as of American Indian or Alaska Native heritage live in urban areas. The UIHP has been a fixture of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act since its initial passage in 1976, principally serving urban Indian communities in those cities where the Federal government relocated Indians during the 1960s and 1970s. Although the UIHP overwhelmingly serves citizens of federally recognized tribes, it has the authority to serve other Native Americans, largely those who have descended from the Federal relocatees. S. 1200 provides a modest expansion of authority for the UIHP to engage in a wider array of health related programs, consistent with the many changes that have occurred in health delivery in the United States since the IHCIA was last reauthorized fourteen years ago.

Source: Link to Original Article.

Funding:

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