Authors: Geoffrey Roth, National Council of Urban Indian Health

Publication Year: 2009

Last Updated: 2010-09-27

Journal: NCUIH

Keywords: testimony, congress, Geoffrey Roth, NNAACP, National Native American AIDS Prevention Center, SCIA, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, recommendations, IHCIA, Indian Health Care Improvement Act, NCUIH, National Council of Urban Indian Health

Abstract:

Honorable Chairman and Committee Members, my name is Geoffrey Roth. I am the Executive Director of the National Council of Urban Indian Health (NCUIH) and the President of the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center. I am also a descendent of the Hunkpapa band of The Lakota Sioux Nation, part of the Standing Rock Tribe. On behalf of NCUIH, our 36 member clinics, and the 150,000 American Indian/Alaska Native patients that we serve annually, I would like to thank the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs for this opportunity to testify on Indian Country’s recommendations for health care reform. NCUIH strongly supports the joint recommendations drafted together with the National Indian Health Board and the National Congress of American Indians. All of our organizations believe that these recommendations are the very minimum of what must be included in health care reform. The National Council of Urban Indian Health also strongly encourages this Committee to pursue a standalone bill to reauthorize the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. Given the tight schedule for health care reform, I am honored for this opportunity to present what we feel are the key foundations that must be included in health care reform if it is to be meaningful for American Indians and Alaska Natives, whether they reside on or off Tribal land.

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