"The $35 billion Indian Health Care Improvement Act passed the Senate on Tuesday. It will “renew and improve a broad range of Indian health programs . . . to combat the chronic shortage of health care services,” according to a news release from the office of Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.
This all-important American Indian health care bill has been limping along at a coyote's pace for 16 years. It has been whipped and beat-up and is damp with tears, but it's now through the first and maybe the most difficult challenge, the Senate.
Why do Indian people get funding for their health care when there is a health care problem in the nation?
First, many American Indians otherwise would have no access to health care. Second and more important, when the tribal nations in this country gave up millions of acres of land to the federal government, the compensation was the government's promise that it would provide services such as health care, education, housing and so on.
During the early years, the federal government also signed legal agreements called treaties with tribes. In those agreements, the government agreed to provide services.
Dorgan compared the funding for American Indians to the funding for people in jail: “There is more funding for health care for prisoners, than that promised for American Indians,” he said in the Senate hearings."
Get the Story:Dorreen Yellow Bird: A welcome measure to improve Indian health (The Grand Forks Herald 2/29)
pwpwd More Dorreen Yellow Bird:
Yellow Bird: More Plains foods that are good for you (2/25)
Yellow Bird: Chokecherries, the wonder fruit (2/20)
Yellow Bird: Sadness on a trip to Standing Rock (2/18)
Yellow Bird: It's time for a change in music (2/11)
Yellow Bird: 'Sioux' drives Indian students away (2/7)
Yellow Bird: Another cold January in North Dakota (1/30)
Yellow Bird: Tribal casinos should be alcohol free (1/28)
Yellow Bird: Race and gender in presidential race (1/23)
Yellow Bird: Barack Obama is my choice for 2008 (1/16)
Yellow Bird: Artman right on off-reservation gaming (1/9)
Yellow Bird: Barack Obama's big win in Iowa (1/7)
Yellow Bird: Wild animals in our environment (12/31)
Yellow Bird: Russell Means makes a point (12/24)
Yellow Bird: Christmas can be depressing too (12/19)
Yellow Bird: It's McCain v. Clinton in 2008 (12/18)
Yellow Bird: UND graduates Indian nurses (12/12)
Yellow Bird: Candy shop in Grand Forks creative (12/11)
Yellow Bird: Teachers and cultural sensitivity (12/5)
Yellow Bird: Instant wealth in a poor community (11/29)
Yellow Bird: Don't feel guilty about Thanksgiving (11/22)
Yellow Bird: Indian people take care of their own (11/19)
Yellow Bird: From 'Nutcracker' to a 'Beat Down' (11/14)
Yellow Bird: Ghosts haunt Standing Rock veteran (11/7)
Yellow Bird: Reservation center helps those in need (11/5)
Yellow Bird: Put an end to 'Fighting Sioux' nick (10/31)
Yellow Bird: Generosity of Shakopee Tribe (10/24)
Yellow Bird: Foreign journalists shared cultural gifts (10/22)
Yellow Bird: Domestic violence happens every day (10/15)
Yellow Bird: Indian adoptees find their way home (10/10)
Yellow Bird: The BIA and its broken promises (10/8)
Yellow Bird: Halloween marks coming of winter (10/3)
Yellow Bird: Diabetes too common among Indians (10/1)
