HHS urged to accept tribal documents for Medicaid

Thursday, April 26, 2007  

The Department of Health and Human Services needs to accept tribal documentation to determine eligibility for Medicaid, the Navajo Nation's top health officia said.

HHS accepts some forms of tribal documentation but only for the lowest tier of service. To receive the highest level, a U.S. birth certificate or similar identification must be presented.

The requirement negative impacts thousands of Navajo elders, Anslem Roanhorse, the executive director of the Navajo Division of Health, said at the HHS consultation session in Salt Lake City. Roanhorse himself doesn't have a birth certificate.

Mark Gilbert, the regional administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said HHS would consider changes in the rules. "Initially, we did not include a lot of the documents that tribes have," he said, The Deseret Morning News reported.

Get the Story:
Navajos lack records (The Deseret Morning News 4/26)

Relevant Links:
Indian Health Service - http://www.ihs.gov

Related Stories:
HHS holds consultation session in Salt Lake City (4/25)
Alaska Native suicide rates remain high (04/10)
Meetings planned to discuss cancer on reservations (04/10)
Indian diabetes program up for reauthorization (04/09)
Indians in Southwest see high rates of diabetes (04/09)
Montana and Wyoming tribes host health conference (04/06)
Montana lawmaker presses for health care funding (4/5)
Opinion: U.S. failing to provide Indian health care (3/22)
Kara Briggs: The fight to reauthorize IHCIA (3/21)
Urban Indians hurt by IHS policy in Montana (3/20)
Health care push continues at House hearing (3/19)
DOJ's Indian white paper a political whodunit (3/14)
House hearing on Indian Health Care Improvement (3/14)
Urban Indians under attack over health care (3/12)
Fireworks at Indian health care hearing (3/9)
Senate hearing on Indian Health reauthorization (3/8)
Urban Indians in New Mexico feel left out on health (3/8)
Some urban Indians denied care at request of IHS (3/8)
Indian Health Care Act introduced in House (3/7)
Hearings on Indian Health Care Improvement Act (3/5)
Democrats promise action at USET conference (2/14)
Harjo: GOP calls Indian health care 'race-based' (2/12)
Tribes forced to ration funds for health services (2/2)
Interview: Inadequate health care in Indian Country (01/16)
Joint hearing on Indian health care act postponed (11/14)
Final push for health care bill in 109th Congress (11/13)
White House hit over delays in health care and Cobell (10/05)
Still no Indian Health Care Improvement Act (09/22)
New Standard: U.S. failing to deliver health care (7/18)
Senate panel advances Indian health care measure (10/28)
Senate committee takes up slate of Indian bills (10/27)
Hearing on Indian Health Care Improvement Act (07/13)
Oklahoma senator loses Indian health care vote (06/29)