Council urges Administration to keep IHCIA
LeChee Health Facility 6 – The new clinic at LeChee Health Facility has six, state-of-the-art exam rooms. The clinic is aimed at providing Native beneficiaries living in LeChee, Ariz. and the nearby communities with non-urgent primary healthcare. (Times photo – Krista Allen)
WINDOW ROCK
In an attempt to be proactive the Navajo Nation Council unanimously approved legislation requesting Congress retain the Indian Health Care Improvement Act during a special council session Feb. 16.
When Health, Education and Human Services Committee Chair Jonathan Hale (Oak Springs/St.Michaels) wrote to U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he listed many services that are provided to not just Navajo, but all Native Americans, through IHCIA.
“IHCIA updates and modernizes health delivery services, such as cancer screenings, home- and community-based services, hospice care, and long-term care for the elderly and disabled. Establishes a continuum of care through integrated behavioral health programs (both preventions and treatment to address alcohol/substance abuse and the social services and mental health need of Indian people,” stated the letter, which went on to list many other services IHCIA provides.
Doing away with the Affordable Care Act, which incorporates the IHCIA, “is going to be a big hit to the Navajo Nation,” said Hale in an interview with the Times. “(The Navajo Nation) Department of Health functions on all external funding. For the .638 Health Care centers — there’s six of them on the nation — as well as Indian Health Center with its six service units … it would be a dramatic hit, (a) blow.”
Furthermore, Philene S. Herrera, a health program manager for the Health Education HIV Prevention Program, warned that the Navajo Nation would stand to lose approximately $38 million annually in federal funding that would impact a variety of services including social services, emergency management services, behavioral health services, HIV prevention and screening services, health education services, epidemiology services, and health services provided to Navajo veterans.
She added that a total of 388 positions would also be impacted within the Navajo Nation Department of Health if a repeal occurred, according to a news release.
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