Under treaties made between tribal nations and the US government, American Indians and Alaska Natives are entitled to federally subsidized health care. “Our treaties state that we have a right to federally funded health care,” said Abigail Echo-Hawk, executive vice president of the Seattle Indian Health Board and enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. “This is supposed to be high-quality health care offered free of charge to enrolled members of federally recognized tribes since we already paid for it with the land that the United States is on.” However, the United States government has not fully financed these programs, according to a 2018 study by the independent and bipartisan Commission on Civil Rights, leaving many indigenous communities unable to provide appropriate care. “It’ll always be a fight for us to begin to treat the underlying health issues that were developed as a result of colonial oppression and repression of both our health and our economic development within Indian land if we don’t have the resources that we need,” Echo-Hawk said. “Until the Indian Health Service receives full financing, we’ll constantly be striving to do more than meet our people’s immediate needs.” The Indian Health Service said in an emailed statement to CNBC that since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has received “historic investments” totaling more than $9 billion “to address long-standing health inequities experienced by American Indians and Alaska Natives by ensuring a comprehensive public health response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.” Learn how federally financed health care for American Indians and Alaska Natives works in the video above, and why many activists and professionals want the system altered./n
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