Dorgan cites 'major breakthrough' on Indian health

[runningwolf]

Dorgan cites 'major breakthrough' on Indian health
Monday, December 21, 2009
Filed Under: Health | Politics

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), the chairman of the Senate Indian
Affairs Committee, announced a "major breakthrough" today on the
Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

Dorgan said S.1790, a bill to permanently reauthorize the IHCIA, has
been included in H.R.3590, the national health care reform package
that's being considered in the Senate. Passage is expected before
Christmas.

"Including the bill in the broader health reform package indicates
that Senate leaders recognize the improvements for Indian Country are
both important and urgent," Dorgan said. "American Indian and Alaska
Natives are the only group of Americans which the federal government
actually has a trust responsibility to provide health care for, and so
it is important that any health reform package contains the Indian
Health Care Improvement Act."

The House included the IHCIA in its version of the health reform bill.
The two chambers will have to resolve any differences before it
becomes law but this is the closest the IHCIA has come to final
passage in 10 years.

According to Dorgan's office, IHCIA will:

* Permanently re-authorize all current Indian health care
programs;
* Authorize programs to increase the recruitment and retention of
health care professionals, such as updates to the scholarship program,
demonstration programs which promote new, innovative models of health
care, to improve access to health care for Indians and Alaska Natives;
* Authorize long-term care, including home health care, assisted
living, and community based care. Current law provides for none of
these forms of long-term care;
* Establish mental and behavioral health programs beyond alcohol
and substance abuse, such as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, and
domestic violence prevention programs;
* Improve the youth suicide prevention programs available to
Native Americans, including streamlining the process by which Indian
tribes apply for youth suicide prevention grants;
* Establish demonstration projects that provide incentives to use
innovative facility construction methods, such as modular component
construction and mobile health stations, to save money and improve
access to health care services;
* Require that the IHS budget account for medical inflation rates
and population growth, in order to combat the dramatic underfunding of
the Indian health system.

Indian Health Care Improvement Act:
S.1790 | H.R.2708