Reznet

Indian Health Bill Passed, Oh And Apology, Too

By Kevin Abourezk

It only took nine years of negotiation, but the U.S. Senate finally reauthorized the legislation that oversees delivery of health care to all Native people Tuesday.

By a vote of 83-10, the Senate passed the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

"People are literally dying because we have not acted," said Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), sponsor of the act. "This bill is a first step that will help put an end to health care rationing and move the health care system in Indian Country in the right direction."

Dorgan has always said he plans to immediately begin drafting legislation that would lead to reform of Indian health care upon passage of the act.

Now, he gets to prove his words with action.

But for now, Indian Country should be grateful for his sponsorship of this landmark legislation that is expected to bring more health care professionals to reservations, improve Indian health care infrastructure and expand Indian health services.

The legislation authorizes spending about $35 billion for Indian health care programs over the next 10 years.

Among its key measures:

• Provide tools to tribes to address youth suicide.

• Provide grants for demonstration projects that would address the often limited hours of operation for existing Indian health facilities.

• Address $1 billion worth of unmet needs in Indian health care facilities, including alcohol and substance abuse treatment centers.

• Expand scholarship and loan programs that encourage more Indian people to enter the health care profession.

Indian leaders, like National Congress of American Indian President Joe Garcia, praised the Senate's action Tuesday.

"It's about time and I applaud the Senate for this historic vote," Garcia said. "Federal prisoners continue to receive better health care than Native people and this is a major step in reversing that alarming statistic."

The U.S. House of Representatives must now consider the act.

While the Indian leaders and senators rejoiced the act's passage Tuesday, the Senate's passage of a resolution attached to the act calling for a formal apology to Native people elicited about as much celebration as every other promise made to Indian people.

Even the resolution's sponsor, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who has been calling for the apology since 2004, said nothing about the resolution's passage Tuesday.

Last week, however, Brownback offered these words:

"With this apology, the federal government can repair and improve our relationship with Native Americans. While we cannot erase the past, this amendment hopefully helps heal the wounds that have divided America for too long."

Naïve at best, the resolution epitomizes the government's reliance on good words in dealing with Indian issues.

Only a formal Indian apology uttered by a sitting president, something this president never would do, and then followed by immediate action to improve Indian communities, could ever begin to repair the federal government's fractured relationship with tribes.

That's not something this resolution — slipped under the door like a "Dear John" note — could ever hope to do.

Kevin Abourezk, Oglala Lakota, is a reporter and editor at the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star. He is a reznet assignment editor and teaches reporting at the Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute.

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