Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly pledged to guard and enhance well being companies for Native People — whether or not talking throughout his late-January Senate affirmation listening to or an April trip to Arizona, the place he met with tribal leaders.
In some methods, he has.
When layoffs had been set to hit the Indian Well being Service — the federal company answerable for offering well being care to Native People and Alaska Natives — Kennedy’s division rescinded the actions hours later.
In April, whereas visiting Arizona’s Navajo Nation, Kennedy advised KFF Well being Information he was ensuring broader funds cuts and layoffs at HHS don’t have an effect on Native American communities.
However tribal leaders expressed skepticism. They mentioned they’ve already seen fallout from the sweeping reorganization throughout federal well being companies. Public well being information is incomplete and company communication has grow to be much less dependable. Tribes have additionally misplaced at the least $6 million in grants from different HHS companies, according to a letter the Nationwide Indian Well being Board despatched to Kennedy in Could.
“There could also be a false impression amongst a number of the administration that Indian Nation is just impacted by adjustments to the Indian Well being Service,” mentioned Liz Malerba, a tribal coverage knowledgeable and citizen of the Mohegan Tribe. “That’s merely not true.”
Native People face increased charges of persistent ailments and die younger than other populations. These inequities stem from centuries of systemic discrimination. The Indian Well being Service has been chronically underfunded and understaffed, resulting in gaps in care.
Janet Alkire, chairperson of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe within the Dakotas, mentioned during a May Senate hearing that the canceled grants paid for group well being employees, vaccinations, information modernization, and different public well being efforts.
Different packages — together with ones geared toward Native American youth interested in science and medicine and increasing access to healthy foods — had been slashed after the federal government mentioned they violated the Trump administration’s ban on “range, fairness, and inclusion.”
Native leaders and organizations have requested tribal consultation, a authorized course of required when federal companies contemplate adjustments that might have an effect on tribal nations. Alkire and different tribal leaders on the Senate committee listening to mentioned federal officers had not responded.
“This isn’t only a ethical query of what we owe Native folks,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) mentioned on the listening to. “It’s also a query of the regulation.”