Nation closely watching health care issue

WINDOW ROCK

“This fight is not yet over,” said Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., in a statement on Tuesday after the Senate voted 51-50 to begin debating and amending the Senate GOP “repeal and replace” bill.

This is a crucial procedural step for Republican senators to begin the process of possibly repealing the Affordable Care Act and replacing it with a new, undefined health care bill called the American Health Care Act.

Late Tuesday night the Senate tried for the second time to repeal the ACA and replace it with the Better Care Reconciliation Act. This failed with a vote of 47-53. They needed 60 votes and fell short by 7.

A vote on a repeal-only bill was expected as the Navajo Times went to press Wednesday.

Jackson Brossy, the executive director for the Navajo Nation Washington Office, said Tuesday night that he expects another vote on the re-worked bill within the coming days and he predicts this will be a much closer vote.

However, Brossy said with such an unpredictable political climate in Washington anything could happen.

“We’re keeping our eye on it,” Brossy said.

The Navajo Nation Washington Office has concerns about the repeal of Medicaid expansion and the proposed plan to turn Medicaid into a block-grant program for states.

The Navajo Nation opposes both, said Brossy, noting that a large number of American Indians and Alaska Natives are covered by Medicaid.

Another question Brossy has is how an ACA repeal would affect the Indian Health Improvement Act, which is included under the ACA.

“Would this also be repealed?,” Brossy questioned.

Udall’s office has not heard of any current proposed changes to the IHCIA, said Jennifer Talhem, Udall’s communications director. However, the future of the IHCIA is unclear at this time, said Talhem.

Brossy said the Navajo Nation will not accept any more cuts to IHS services.

“We will not stand for any cuts in our health care services — as it stands now the IHS is already underfunded,” Brossy said through a text message. “We want to improve IHS services, not cut them.”

Udall heard similar sentiments from tribal leaders across Indian Country during a roundtable his office organized to discuss how changes or repeal of the ACA would affect “vulnerable” Native communities on July 18.

“Indian Country would be hit the hardest,” Udall told the Senate over a week ago about recent actions by Republicans to repeal the ACA and replace it with a new health care policy.

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