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Native America Calling: Medicaid, Medicare, health care, and food safety on the line
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Medicaid, Medicare, health care, and food safety on the line
Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. is overseeing an unprecedented cut of nearly a quarter of the staff at the Department of Health and Human Services, drawing widespread concerns about possible adverse affects for thousands of Native Americans who depend on those services.
Everything from bill processing to testing and research to prevent lead contamination in children could be constricted. At the same time, Kennedy successfully reversed Elon Musk’s termination of 900 Indian Health Service employees by the Department of Government Efficiency.
Kennedy is also reaching out to tribes and maintaining contact through the IHS Tribal Self Governance Advisory Committee.
Join Native America Calling to look at the latest word on what some of the potential effects of the federal actions are on Native health and health care.
Guests on Native America Calling
A.C. Locklear (Lumbee), CEO of the National Indian Health Board
Kristen Bitsuie (Navajo), tribal health care outreach and education policy manager for the National Indian Health Board
Kim Russell (Navajo), policy advisor for Sage Memorial Hospital in Ganado, Arizona, operated by the Navajo Health Foundation, a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation
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