A few things have changed on the bill from the 1976 original
- Enhancement of the authorities of the IHS (Indian Healthcare Service) director, including the responsibility to facilitate advocacy and promote consultation on matters relating to Indian health within the Department of Health and Human Services
- Provides authorization for hospice, assisted living, long-term and home-and community-based care
- Extends the ability to recover costs from third parties to tribally operated facilities
- Updates current law regarding collection of reinbursements from Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP (Childern's Health Insurance Program) by Indian health facilities
- Allows tribes and tribal organizations to purchase health benefits coverage for IHS beneficiaries
- Authorizes IHS to enter into arrangements with the Departments of Veteran Affairs and Defense to share medical facilities and services
- Allows a tribe or tribal organization carrying out a program under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act and an urban Indian organization carrying out a program under the title V of IHCIA to purchase coverage for its employees from the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program
- Authorizes the establishment of a Community Health Representative program for urban indian organizations to train and employ Indians to provide healthcare services
- Directs the IHS to establish comprehensive behavioral health, prevention and treatment programs for Indians
- If an Indian does not wish to get private insurance they will not be pentalized for it
Questions my classmates had "Does the Indian healthcare act have to be done by each individual reservation?" The answer is no, because with this bill in place it will cover all native people from America and Alaska.
PROBING QUESTION: Why do you think it took so long for the Indians to get this bill made permanent?
It took so long to get this bill permanent for the Indians because of many things: the federal laws, the reservations, and the many tribes and health insurance companies. First of all, the Federal laws, in the beginning, did not really let the Indians buy into the private health insurance that the average Americans use. The reservations were really considered different countries than America (kind of like a country inside a country). But, the main reason that I believe why it took so long is that because the Indians had to fight and fight, until they got noticed by the government, and even then, they had to make new laws, acts, and new court cases. That is why it took so long.
ReplyDeleteI believe it took this long for the Indians to get this billmade permanent because of how we have treated them in the past. We stuck them on reservation and destroyed their culture so now we are trying to make up for those actions. Another reason is because of how slowly goverment works. Bills can take years to get supported then get voted on, and of course people want to make small changes and then their has to be a vote again. Both of those reasons are why i think this bill took so long to get even though the Native Americans deserved it long before this.
ReplyDeleteI think that it took so long for this bill to get made permanent because the government was still unsure on how they should include the native american population with the rest of the country. Since they are separate and on reservations, the government might have tried to hold off as long as possible before including the Indians. In a way, I feel that the government was put under the hot seat and had to now make this bill permanent. They have done so much damage to the native american population in the United States, that they have to begin reembersing them in as many ways possible. This is just the start!
ReplyDeleteI think it took so long because they have been thinking of having everyone have heatlh care a world wide thing. They just wanted to make sure that they could make the universal health bill so it slowed this done. If they make universal health bill then they would not need this because then everyone would have health care anyways.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the bill took so long to pass beacuse of the reputaion that the Indians are given. They are described as poor people that get drunk all of the time and end up killing each other. When somebody hears that they do not want to ahve to cover every person because they will think that they are wasting money becuase it will all stay the same. The healthcare agencies do not want to coverr people that are constilntly getting hurt and ending up in the hospital or dead.
ReplyDeleteZack makes a good point where he says that the changing of the bill tooks so long due to reputation. People have had a negative outlook on Indians meaning they may not put extra time and effort into making changes for them. Adam makes a good point as well where he is saying that since the Indians are somewhat segregated from the rest of the country it is hard to distinguish how to treat them. They may have been wondering if health care should vary based on their living areas or incomes.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Jackie that Zack made a good point, because a lot of stereotypes I think have contributed to how long it took the bill to be passed. I disagree with what Adam has argued (how the Native Americans seperate themselves from our society we don't know how to treat them) because I we have many poor people in our country and we still want them insured. I think that not including them is only making matters worse, and we should atleast attempt to understand there needs. Terry also makes a good point, and I think that it does take a lot of time to get the support needed for a bill to be passed. So priority is another contributer in my eyes to the reason why this bill took so long to be passed.
ReplyDeleteI think that it took so long for the Indians to get this bill made permanent because the Indians have tried to maintain their own reservations and laws, but they are still American citizens. This controversy has confused where their rightful place is in the nation. The Indians kind of had to fight to get recognition from the government. I also think that it took so long because of the time it took for the government to even look at the bill, and with all of the steps and processes the bill has to be put through. I think that there are many different reasons as to why the bill took so long to be made permanent, but my views and the thoughts above, I think, are the more obvious reasons.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it took so long for the Indians to have pass this bill would be because they are considered different from all Americans. Just like Zack said it has to do with there reputation in the United States and how they want their own bills and have there own reservations. Indians really have to stand out there to get noticed in the United States to get what they want. Another reason that I believe that it took so long for the Indians to pass this bill would be that the government was focused on the whole united states rather then the little parts of the united states that aren’t noticed by society; like the reservations.
ReplyDeleteI think it took such a long time to make the bill permanent for a number of reasons. The top reason being that Native Americans are thought of as wild, unruly and poor. This means they are more of a liability. If they are covered then it is more likely that money would have to be spent on them.
ReplyDeleteI think it took such a long time to make the bill permanent because the government doesn't really care. We have HealthCare, that's all they are probably worried about, but since the Indians kept fighting, they government had to notice that this was important to them. I agree with Alisha on the reputation of the United States, Indians wanted their own reservation and laws.
ReplyDeleteI think that it took so long for this bill to be made because Americans don't really pay much attention to Native Americans. In the past we decided that we could buy their land, buy them out, and give them a place to live that would be so barren even we wouldn't be able to live on it. Native American rights don't appear much in the news, and now that they are talking about a Healthcare Reform, we can compare ourselves to them since we also recently underwent a reform. This bill gives them a little more publicity, so more people I think become aware of the problems they face.
ReplyDeleteI think that it took so long for the natives to have the rights to healthcare because the US government still doesn't know what to do or how to handle then. The natives see themselves as their own people but they still want to be apart and have the same rights as Americans. So in doing so they have actually created this wall almost were the American government doesn't know how to approch them they want see the indians as people who are apart of the US in their eyes as the government but the Indians don't want to become americans themseleves they are their own people and they think deserve their own ways of governing themselves.
ReplyDeleteI think it took so long to pass this bill for a few reasons. First, governments tend to take quite a long time just with the natural process of passing any bill as dramatic and important as this one. Also, I believe they were considering whether or not they actually wanted to pass this. This probably kept putting it off in hopes that the tension with it would ease and go down, so that the public's reaction to either decision would not be so intense. Finally, Zack made a point that I completely agree with. Indians do seem to drink an awful lot (steriotype or not), which generally results in health problems, both minor or severe; no one wants to have to pay for the health care of people constantly putting poisons into their body.
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