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Tribal Advocates Tout Obama's Health Plan

By Kevin Abourezk

Two weeks after Congress failed to pass important Indian health legislation, tribal and political leaders touted Sen. Barack Obama's plans to improve Indian health care Tuesday.

"It's really a life or death conversation we need to be having," said Rosebud Sioux tribal councilman Robert Moore.

Moore joined Nevada Indian Health Board director Larry Curley and Obama staff Tuesday in voicing support for Obama's plans during a conference call with reporters Tuesday.

The conference call comes two weeks after the U.S. House of Representatives adjourned without passing the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, legislation that would have reauthorized the primary laws that deliver health care to Native people. Tribal leaders across the nation supported the act, which the Senate passed in February by a wide margin.

The act stalled after federal legislators focused their attention on a $700 billion bailout package meant to buy devalued mortgage-backed securities.

Moore emphasized the need for the act by describing health disparities facing Natives, including the fact that the federal government provides about half as much funding per Native person as it does for a federal inmate. He said Natives have the highest death rates for tuberculosis and suicide, a problem that especially plagues the men of his tribe, the Rosebud Sioux.

"We are the most at-risk minority group for health problems," he said of Native people.

Obama's proposals include spending $1 million to address Native health disparities. Obama has a history of addressing Native health issues, Moore said, including serving as a co-sponsor of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

"Sen. Obama supports sufficient funding for Indian Health Service," he said.

McCain, however, has consistently voted against funding for Indian Health Services.

"I don't think he understands that health care is a treaty obligation," Moore said.

Curley said McCain's health plan would leave millions of Americans without adequate health care coverage, including Natives. His plan would dismantle employer-based health care, which many Natives need and use.

"They have to fend for themselves" under McCain's plan, Curley said of Native people.

Obama plans to ensure low- to moderate-income Natives get adequate health care coverage by expanding Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program eligibility requirements.

"This is our chance to implement the kind of health care policies that help all Americans, not just those who are privileged," Curley said.

Asked how Obama would pay for expanded health programs for Natives, Curley said some of that money could come the $10 billion a month Obama would save by pulling troops out of Iraq.

"A lot of that could be put in the pie and increase funding for Indian Health Services," he said.

Kevin Abourezk's "Red Clout" columns are available for syndication. Please contact reznet to purchase republishing rights.

Kevin Abourezk, Rosebud Lakota, is a reporter and editor at the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star. He writes reznet's "Red Clout" political blog and teaches reporting at the Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute. Abourezk was awarded a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism in 2006.

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