45th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2002

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION AND THE INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE TO TAKE ALL ACTION NEEDED TO AMEND THE INDIAN HEALTH CARE IMPROVEMENT ACT TO PROVIDE DIRECT AND CONTINUED FUNDING OF MEDICAL AND DENTAL SERVICES OF THE ALBUQUERQUE AREA INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE FOR THE THIRTY THOUSAND ALBUQUERQUE AREA URBAN INDIAN PEOPLE.

WHEREAS, the primary medical and dental care for the approximately thirty thousand American Indians representing over two hundred tribes residing in and around the city of Albuquerque is provided by the Indian health service Albuquerque service unit through the Albuquerque Indian health service hospital and the Indian health service/southwestern Indian polytechnic institute dental clinic, funded annually by the United States congress; and

WHEREAS, approximately forty percent of the thirty thousand American Indians living in the Albuquerque area are Navajo, who, in addition to receiving basic health care from the Indian health service, are eligible for contract health care provided by the Albuquerque Indian health service hospital; and

WHEREAS, contracting pursuant to P.L. 93-638, the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, has adversely impacted the health care delivery system for the thirty thousand Albuquerque area urban Indians by eliminating or greatly reducing health care services now available to them through the Indian health service Albuquerque service unit because all of the funds appropriated by the United States congress through the Indian health service are being contracted or are available for contracting to tribes or pueblos in the Albuquerque service unit for use within their communities and not for use in Albuquerque; and

WHEREAS, in October 2000, the Indian health service/southwestern Indian polytechnic institute dental clinic was to be closed due to the redistribution of funding to tribes pursuant to P.L. 93-638 contracts, but urban Indian representatives, with the support of tribes from the surrounding area and the New Mexico congressional delegation, managed to keep the dental clinic open with a special one- million-dollar congressional appropriation; and

WHEREAS, the Albuquerque Indian health service hospital will, likewise, be forced to reduce health care services, in the short term, and may be forced to close, in the long term, if local tribes and pueblos under the Indian health service Albuquerque service unit continue to contract all available health care services funding from the Albuquerque Indian health service unit; and

WHEREAS, Albuquerque urban Indian representatives support the local tribes and pueblos in taking over the Indian health service health care delivery system but, in return, request support from the tribes and pueblos to keep the health care services available to the Albuquerque area urban American Indian population of thirty thousand; and

WHEREAS, P.L. 94-437, the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, which is now before the United States congress for action, fails to provide for continued health care services and federal funding through the existing urban Albuquerque Indian health service facility for the Albuquerque area urban Indian users and, thus, is in conflict with the Snyder Act of 1921; and

WHEREAS, although P.L. 93-638 requires the Indian health service to consult with Indian communities on health issues, and while tribes and pueblos are represented on the Indian health service Albuquerque service unit board that is organized to provide advice on funding and other health policy issues, it does not have a similar formal system of receiving public input into matters that affect the grassroots Albuquerque area urban Indian community and, in fact, a request for grassroots urban Indian representation on the Indian health service Albuquerque service unit board was previously denied by the Albuquerque area Indian health service;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico congressional delegation, the federal department of health and human services and the Indian health service be urged to provide the funding required for operation of the Albuquerque service unit of the Indian health service to ensure that the thirty thousand urban American Indians, including many Navajos, in the Albuquerque area receive adequate health care and to fully fund dental services through the Albuquerque Indian health service/southwestern Indian polytechnic institute dental clinic; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Indian health service Albuquerque service unit board be requested to establish a formal advisory group of grassroots Albuquerque urban Indian representatives to work together with the Albuquerque area Indian health service to address Indian health service Albuquerque service unit funding and other Indian health- related issues; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico congressional delegation and the Indian health service be requested to address the current Albuquerque urban Indian health care delivery situation so that the Albuquerque area Indian health service can continue to provide direct health care services to Albuquerque area urban Indians and that they also ensure that the following provisions and new language, proposed by the Albuquerque commission on Indian affairs, be inserted into P.L. 94-437, Title V, Section 512:

"Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the Albuquerque Area Indian Health Service Dental Clinic and Hospital, which now serve urban American Indians residing in the Albuquerque urban area, shall continue to serve urban Indians and be further designated, in addition to continuing to serve tribes, as a Service and/or Operating Unit in the allocation of additional resources and coordination of care for the Albuquerque urban Indian population and, as such, those resources specifically appropriated by the U.S. Congress and health care reserved for the urban Indian user population shall not be subject to the provisions of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act and, further, the designated urban Service Unit shall establish, with input by the Albuquerque grassroots urban Indian community, an urban Indian advisory group to further the consultation provisions of this Act."; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the members of the New Mexico congressional delegation, the Indian health service Albuquerque service unit board, the director of the Indian health service of the federal department of health and human services and the director of the Albuquerque area Indian health service.