And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] forwarded for informational purposes only...contents have not been verified.. From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 17:26:54 EST Subject: Tribes May Run Health Programs Tribes May Run Health Programs .c The Associated Press By MATT KELLEY WASHINGTON (AP) - American Indian tribes could permanently take over management of some federal health care programs under a bill the House passed Wednesday. Tribes could run hospitals, clinics, prevention efforts and other programs now overseen by the Indian Health Service under the measure, approved by voice vote. Currently, some tribes manage health care programs under a ``demonstration project'' that includes 46 compacts involving 267 of the 558 tribes in the United States. The bill would make that project permanent and let up to 50 tribes a year take over management of health care programs from the IHS. Those tribes would have to show they have the financial and management skills to run the programs effectively, and the IHS could take a program back if a tribe seriously mismanaged it or endangered public health. The demonstration project has been a success, said Michael Mahsetky, the IHS' director of legislative and congressional affairs. ``They (tribes) are in fact providing a higher level and a higher quality of services,'' said Mahsetky, a member of the Comanche tribe of Oklahoma. ``They've really taken on this responsibility, and they do a better job than if the federal government was doing it for them.'' When the Lummi tribe of Washington state started running its health care programs, it eliminated a backlog of patients with ailments such as diabetes who were not getting treatment, tribal council member Henry Cagey told a Senate hearing in July. Under the IHS, ``during the traditional end-of-the-year budget crunch, diabetics were required to save and reuse disposable syringes in order to save funds,'' Cagey said. He said such practices have ended under the tribe's management. The Indian Health Service, with a budget of about $2.5 billion, provides health care for about 1.5 million of the more than 2 million American Indians and Alaska natives in the United States. Treaties and other laws require the federal government to provide health care for tribal members. The IHS runs both reservation health centers and clinics for Indians in urban areas such as Phoenix and Minneapolis. Allowing tribes to run health programs for their members ``will remove needless and sometimes harmful layers of federal bureaucracy,'' said the bill's sponsor, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif. A similar proposal passed the House last year but died in the Senate. AP-NY-11-17-99 1726EST Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. <><<<<<>>>>><><<<<> Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ <><<<<<>>>>><><<<<>
