Authors: Geoffrey Roth

Publication Year: 2007

Journal: NCUIH

Keywords: UIHP, Testimony, DOJ, White Paper, IHCIA, budget, elimination, zero-ing out, FY2007, Urban Indian Health Programs, Department of Justice, Indian Health Care Improvement Act

Abstract:

Request

Today's hearing comes at a political crossroad between the Administration's continued hostility toward urban Indian health, exemplified by the proposed elimination of UIHP in FY 2007 and FY 2008, and Congress' rejection of these hostilities. While the FY 2007 budget proposal argued that Urban Indian Health Program medical services are a duplication of services already provided by Community Health Centers (CHC), the FY 2008 budget cut states that "urban Indians can receive health care through a wide variety of Federal, State, and local providers." However, contrary to the assertions made in the Administration's FY 2008 budget, urban Indian health programs do not duplicate the functions of CHCs nor does Federal, State or local providers have the capacity, means or cultural understanding to take on the large urban Indian patient load. Rather, urban Indian health clinics serve a unique, non-duplicative and culturally specific purpose within the large urban Indian communities. The fact that there are other health services available in urban areas is already reflected in how IHS funding is distributed, with urban Indian programs receiving only $32.744 million in FY 2007, despite 2000 census data showing that well over 60% of American Indians and Alaska Natives live in urban areas.

When facing elimination last year, NCUIH asked its membership and their patients to provide written statements on the impact of the zeroing out on the UIHP. This year NCUIH and its members have launched yet another support letter campaign. There is a consensus regarding the expected devastating consequences of the intended/proposed budget cuts. These include: "bankruptcy, lease defaults, elimination of medical services to thousands of individuals who may not seek care elsewhere, not to mention the obvious side-effect of further increasing the health care disparities for American Indians and Alaska Natives." Moreover, our membership assessed that the body of medical and cultural knowledge addressing the unique cultural and medical needs of the urban Indian population held almost exclusively by the urban Indian health programs would be lost. Deducing from this, the FY 2008 budget proposal will likely result in the complete collapse of many urban Indian health centers and greatly constrain the efficiency and work of those that could survive such a cut.

File Download: