HOUSE MEMORIAL 29

48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2007

INTRODUCED BY

Irvin Harrison

A MEMORIAL

URGING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO INCREASE FUNDING FOR THE INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE IN ORDER TO PROVIDE THE HEALTH SERVICES TO WHICH NATIVE AMERICANS ARE ENTITLED BY TREATY.

     WHEREAS, a shortfall of millions of dollars in the federal Indian health service budget over recent years has already resulted in a severe cutback in health care services to the more than one hundred eighty thousand Native Americans living in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, requests for emergency appropriations from the United States congress to the Indian health service have been deferred due to the high cost of supporting the war in Iraq; and

     WHEREAS, delays in obtaining health care will discourage Native Americans from seeking treatment in a timely manner and may have a significant adverse effect on their state of health; and

     WHEREAS, cutbacks in Indian health services have affected other health care providers and facilities, as deserving patients no longer being served by the Indian health service seek services elsewhere; and

     WHEREAS, the country's trust obligation to fund services for Native Americans deprived of their lands and traditional ways and to provide access to adequate health care for Native Americans is founded in treaty, statute, constitution and ethics; and

     WHEREAS, the Indian health service, prior to funding cuts, spent an estimated one thousand nine hundred twenty dollars ($1,920) per patient, which is less than half the amount spent for veterans, for federal prisoners or for medicare recipients; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico ranks second in the country in the percentage of the population that is Native American;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico congressional delegation be requested to urge the United States congress to adequately fund the Indian health service to ensure that Native Americans in New Mexico receive the health care to which they are entitled by treaty; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the secretary of health, the secretary of Indian affairs, the president of the Navajo Nation, the speaker of the Navajo Nation council, the president of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, the president of the Jicarilla Apache Nation, the governors of the nineteen Indian pueblos in New Mexico; the members of the New Mexico congressional delegation, the federal secretary of health and human services and the director of the federal Indian health service.

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