{"id":1515,"date":"2020-09-28T14:21:50","date_gmt":"2020-09-28T19:21:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=1515"},"modified":"2020-09-28T14:27:57","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T19:27:57","slug":"montana-free-press-affordable-care-act-deemed-essential-for-indian-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2020\/09\/28\/montana-free-press-affordable-care-act-deemed-essential-for-indian-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Montana Free Press: Affordable Care Act deemed essential for Indian Country"},"content":{"rendered":"
Protect Our Care Montana: Health Disparities in Indigenous Communities During the COVID-19 Crisis<\/a>

Join us for a virtual press call with Representative Barbara Bessette (D HD-24), Dr. Damion Killsback, Senior Advisor for Tribal Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Anna Whiting Sorrell, former head of Montana DPHHS, and Representative Sharon Stewart Peregoy (D HD-21) to discuss the importance of Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and access to quality care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indigenous communities, in addition to health disparities and barriers to quality health care that the Indigenous communities faces.<\/p>Posted by Protect Our Care Montana<\/a> on Wednesday, September 23, 2020<\/blockquote><\/div>\r\n

Protect Our Care Montana: Health Disparities in Indigenous Communities During the COVID-19 Crisis – September 23, 2020<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n
ACA meets COVID in Indian Country<\/div>\r\n
Advocates says continuance of the Affordable Care Act \u2014 which is headed to the Supreme Court in November \u2014 is vital to the health of tribes in Montana.<\/div>\r\n
Monday, September 28, 2020<\/div>\r\n
By Chris Aadland<\/div>\r\n
Montana Free Press<\/DIV>\r\n
montanafreepress.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAs COVID-19 continues to disproportionately affect Montana\u2019s Indigenous population, and as tribal governments continue to enact strict measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus, tribal leaders and health care advocates say a repeal of the Affordable Care Act would devastate health care in Indian Country.\u00a0

<\/p>\r\n\r\nThe ACA is set to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in November, with one possible outcome being essentially a repeal of the law.\u00a0

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\nAs of last week, 37% of the deaths attributed to COVID-19<\/a> in Montana were people who identify as Native American, even as Native Americans account for about 7% of the state\u2019s population, \r\naccording to the most recent state analysis<\/a>.\u00a0\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s a tsunami impact upon our people across the nation,\u201d said Rep. Sharon Stewart-Peregoy, D-Crow Agency. \u201cWe have lost generations to this disease.\u201d\u00a0

<\/p>\r\n\r\nHigher rates of pre-existing conditions like diabetes, historically underfunded health care\u00a0services \u2014 which citizens of federally recognized tribes have a legal right to \u2014 and a pandemic disproportionately affecting many tribes make the ACA especially important for Indigenous people, panelists said Wednesday during a discussion about health care inequities and COVID-19 in Indian Country. The discussion was hosted by the Montana chapter of Protect Our Care, a group advocating for the continuance of the ACA.\u00a0

<\/p>

\r\n\"montanaacaindiancountry\"\r\n
Screenshot of a Sept. 23, 2020, panel discussion about the impacts of the Affordable Care Act and COVID-19 in Indian Country in Montana.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nLast week Montana registered a \u201cremarkable increase\u201d of new COVID-19 cases, said Jim Murphy, the epidemiologist and chief of Montana\u2019s Communicable Disease and Prevention Bureau, earlier this week during a press conference. Of the six counties accounting for most of the increases, two \u2014 Roosevelt and Rosebud \u2014 encompass reservations and significant populations of Native Americans.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nOn the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, tribal leaders have mandated a reservation-wide lockdown from Friday morning to Monday morning to help slow the spread of the virus. The order allows residents to leave their homes only for essential business or for safety or health reasons. The order also requests that privately owned businesses close during the lockdown, and mandates closure of tribally owned businesses.\u00a0

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\nAs of Monday, the Northern Cheyenne Reservation had recorded 188 confirmed active cases, 8 presumed positive test results and 12 hospitalizations among reservation residents. Twenty deaths of tribal citizens have been attributed to COVID-19, \r\nthe tribe said<\/a>.\u00a0\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cThe Tribe is at a crossroads and is faced with enforcing mandatory compliance with emergency measures to stop or reduce the spread of the Coronavirus,\u201d Northern Cheyenne tribal leaders said in the lockdown order. \u201cAll of our families have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n

<\/ins>\r\n