Co-chair of new Indian health task force played role in blowing up Indian health law

Thursday, March 28, 2019

The co-chair of a new task force that is investigating the Indian Health Service played a key role in getting the Trump administration to abandon the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA) as part of a legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Joseph Grogan, the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, helped convince the administration to abandon its defense of the ACA, POLITICO and The New York Times reported. As a result, the IHCIA -- which was made permanent by the health reform law -- is at risk of being eliminated, which would deal a setback to a number of major programs and initiatives at the IHS.

According to the news reports, Grogan's push to abandon the ACA and the IHCIA had the support of Mick Mulvaney, the "acting" chief of staff at the White House. As a member of Congress, Mulvaney was among the many Republican lawmakers who has voted to repeal the ACA, also known as Obamacare.

Grogan was "handpicked" by Mulvaney to serve on the White House Domestic Policy Council, The Times reported, and "supported the idea of joining a Republican attorneys general lawsuit to invalidate the entire Affordable Care Act." He was elevated to the role in January, POLITICO reported at the time.

The administration's decision to abandon the ACA was announced in a one-page court filing in the Republican lawsuit, known as Texas v. United States, on Monday. The next morning, the White House announced the Presidential Task Force on Protecting Native American Children in the Indian Health Service System.

Grogan, who previously worked on health issues at the White House Office of Management and Budget, which Mulvaney also runs, was announced as the co-chair of the task force. It was formed in response to the conviction of Stanley Patrick Weber for abusing young IHS patients on the Blackfeet Nation. Weber awaits trial for similar crimes committed against young citizens of the Oglala Sioux Tribe

"This has gone on for more than 20 years," a White House official said on a conference call with reporters on Tuesday morning. "It transcended both Republican and Democratic administrations. This is not a Democrat or a Republican issue; this is a systemic failure."