Babaamaajimowinan (Telling of news in different places)

COVID-19 exposes inadequate funding levels at Indian Health Service

With coronavirus cases continuing to rise at disproportionate rates in Indian Country, advocates are calling on Congress to live up to its trust and treaty obligations by providing adequate funding for health care in tribal and urban communities.

The Indian Health Service needs at least $9.1 billion to meet the needs of the first Americans, key lawmakers are being told at a hearing on Thursday afternoon, among the first in the COVID-19 era. The agency's budget currently falls far short of that amount.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the vast deficiencies in health care access, quality, and availability that exists across the Indian health system," Stacy Bohlen, Chief Executive Officer of the National Indian Health Board, says in written testimony.

https://www.indianz.com/News/2020/06/11/covid19-exposes-inadequate-funding-level.asp

 

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