Bill Helps Native Americans

A key goal of health care reform is to give more support groups that are sometimes pushed aside in the social hierarchy of American politics. One such group are the Native Americans of America, whose population is about 2.5 million people.

It was reported by the New York Times recently that Native Americans are more likely to die more from accidental injuries, diabetes, and motor vehicle crashes than other Americans. This disproportion can be attributed from the fact that Native Americans typically live in rurally based communities, where hospitals, clinics and doctors are not at a suitable proximity in the case of an emergency or time of need.

The National Congress for Native Indians says that, "In exchange for over 450 million acres of Native lands, American Indians received a commitment from the federal government to provide for the health, safety, and welfare of Indian people into the future." But the reality of the situation is that the federal government has not held up their end of the bargain in recent years.

Recently President Obama made an address to 564 tribal leaders in Washington, saying that his administration will try to address the disparities in treatment; allocating more money to the Indian Health Care system.




Congress' role, said the New York Times, is to, "Encourage Indians to enroll in proposed programs like subsidized private insurance or expanded Medicaid, while respecting their sovereignty and the conviction that they are owed health care."

I feel this is a step forward for the treatment of Native Americans in this country. The health care bill is being criticized for its threat of ‘government takeover’ and premiums that are predicted to not change. But one of the main points of this bill is to provide help to those who are truly in need, and the bill seems it will make an improvement for the Native Americans.