Tribal Council Member Urges Continued Support of American Indian Health Care Improvement Act

"Along with our congressional representatives, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, the House Natural Resources Committee, the House Native American Caucus and their hard-working staff, we must stay united and get" the American Indian Health Care Improvement Act reauthorization bill (HR 1328) passed, Robert Moore, a council member for the South Dakota Rosebud Sioux Tribe, writes in a letter to the editor of Indian Country Today. He adds, "As a councilman .... I have witnessed over and over the health disparities Native people face on a daily basis," and stories of American Indians' inadequate access to care "are the reason[s] Indian country has been united in its efforts" to reauthorize the bill.

Moore writes that a recent Indian Country Today analysis on why the vote "stalled" did not tell the "real story of the united fight for reauthorization of the" act. He writes, "The ongoing struggle began decades ago to end the crisis of Native people whose lives have been cut short, or have experienced unnecessary pain and suffering, due to the subpar health care Native people face." Moore adds, "They are the real stories and they deserve the real analysis." He continues, "It's time to stop playing politics with people's lives. Native people are dying" (Moore, Indian Country Today, 10/31).