Medicaid expansion would close I.H.S. underfunding gaps

 

RAPID CITY – President and CEO of the Great Plains Tribal Leaders Health Board Jerilynn Church welcomed the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Itanchun and other tribal leaders who gathered in solidarity on July 20 at the Rapid City Hilton Inn to endorse Constitutional Amendment D.

Among the Itanchun present were Crow Creek Sioux Tribal Chairman Peter Lengkeek, Chairman of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe Clyde Estes, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribal Chairmen Delbert Hopkins Jr. and Oglala Sioux Tribal President Kevin Killer.

Constitutional Amendment D would amend the South Dakota State constitution to require the state to provide Medicaid benefits to adults between 18 and 65 with incomes below 133% of the federal poverty level beginning July 1, 2023.

Currently South Dakota is one of just 12 states that has opted out of Medicaid expansion, also known as the Affordable Care Act or Obama Care. According to the South Dakota Legislative Research Council an additional 42,500 uninsured South Dakotans would qualify for health care, should voters in the state pass Amendment D at the polls this coming November.

According to the Great Plains Tribal Leaders Health Board (GPTLHB) who organized a press conference, many of those who would qualify are tribal citizens living both on and off the reservation.

“The Indian Health Care system is critically inadequate to the needs of our people because of the chronic underfunding by the federal government who has a health care obligation established in treaty agreements between our nations and the United States,” the GPTLHB stated in a press release.

Medicaid expansion would help fill in those gaps in funding by providing additional revenue generated through insuring many tribal citizens.

Peter Lengkeek, Chairman of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe and Veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps said, “I am standing here today joined by tribal leaders representing seven tribal nations from across the state of South Dakota. Today we gather united as allies to support Constitutional Amendment D.”

Lengkeek stated the passage of Amendment D would not only help an additional 42,000 South Dakotans access health care, many of whom are uninsured tribal citizens, “It will also add a significant boost to our tribal economies and provide an additional revenue stream for our tribal health care facilities.”

Lengkeek stressed the importance of the “Native vote” in guaranteeing the passage of the ballot initiative and urged all tribal members and all South Dakotans to get out and vote.

Chairman of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe Clyde Estes said a lot of Lakota, Dakota and Nakota citizens understand, “Not everything is covered by I.H.S. Medicaid expansion would help those that meet those income guidelines” cover those costs. With complications from Covid 19, Estes emphasized that Medicaid expansion will be crucial in meeting additional medical expenses.

“When you look at it, this is the year, 2022. I think there should be no South Dakotans with no medical coverage. It’s health care, it should be a God-given right to everybody. A human life is precious and sacred, we’re all created for a purpose, and no medical care should be denied to any individual let alone any Native person or native South Dakotan for not being able to afford care.”

Estes chastised South Dakota governmental leaders who bragged about state surplus budgets and carrying over billions and billions of dollars, “there should be no excuse for not pumping more dollars into Medicaid.”

Delbert Hopkins Sr. Chairman of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate said, “If we work together as one, we will make great things happen and we’ll be pushing for the Medicaid expansion here in the state of South Dakota.”

Andrea Fischer, Yankton Sioux Tribe Council member, said she was present to support Medicaid expansion. “Because it could trickle down into eventually opening up an emergency room for the Yankton Sioux Tribe facility which is greatly needed because we don’t have urgent care.” Tribal members who need urgent care are sent to another facility and end up owing medical bills which affects their credit,” she said.

Oglala Sioux Tribal President Kevin Killer said the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council passed two resolutions supporting Medicaid expansion.

“One of the things about Medicaid expansion is that it is going to bring more jobs to the community. It’s going to bring more resources to all South Dakotans,” Killer said, and that coming from a seat on the South Dakota state legislature he heard concerns about cost, but that ninety percent of Medicaid expansion will be covered by the federal government, “It’s going to pay for itself.”

Tenille Blackfeather, Ideal Community Representative for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said she comes from a tribe with a large population that doesn’t get a lot of their healthcare needs met and urged all tribal citizens to get out and vote.

“We got this chance and we really need to take advantage of it, because the healthier our citizens are, the more we are going to advance,” Blackfeather said. “More money means more healthcare and more jobs on and off the reservation. Healthcare should be a human right and not just for those who can afford it.”

Also present to stress the importance of passage of Constitutional Amendment D, that will provide much needed additional funding for I.H.S. and other 638 Health facilities, were Kip Spotted Eagle, Business and Claims Committee Yankton Sioux Tribe; Wayne Frederick, Rosebud Sioux Tribe Council Representative, Okreek Community; Curtis Bissonette, Long Hollow council representative, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate; Brandon Adams, Old Agency Representative for the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate; Mike Carlow, Wakpamni District Council Representative, Oglala Lakota Nation; Brandon Fergusson, OST Member, Executive Director of Ending the Silence and Suicide Prevention and Child Sexual Assault Program; Todd Warren, Interim Health Administrator, Oyate Health; and Mark Harlow, Chief Medical Officer at Oyate Health.

(Contact Ernestine Anunkasan Hupa at cahunpigiwin@gmail.com)

The post Medicaid expansion would close I.H.S. underfunding gaps first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

Visit Original Source