SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 75

47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2006

INTRODUCED BY

Leonard Tsosie

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO URGE THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO MAINTAIN FUNDING FOR URBAN INDIAN HEALTH PROGRAMS IN THE 2007 FEDERAL BUDGET IN ORDER TO AVERT A HEALTH CRISIS.

     WHEREAS, the president of the United States, in his 2007 budget, has proposed to terminate all funding for urban Indian health programs under "major savings and reforms"; and

     WHEREAS, this unilateral decision to terminate all funding for urban Indian health programs has been made without consultation with American Indian communities, the states, urban Indian health centers or the patients served by urban Indian health programs; and

     WHEREAS, no research has been done that would support the efficacy of this decision to terminate all funding for urban Indian health programs; and

     WHEREAS, in the Albuquerque metropolitan area alone, thirty-five thousand of the fifty thousand American Indians living there are uninsured; and

     WHEREAS, American Indians suffer significantly higher rates of serious health conditions, such as diabetes and tuberculosis, and higher suicide rates than the general population, and in the greater Albuquerque urban area, nearly one-half of American Indians live below the poverty level and more than one-half reside in single-parent homes; and

     WHEREAS, urban American Indians are ineligible to receive health care on reservations and rely on urban Indian health programs for their health and dental needs; and

     WHEREAS, all other urban health care providers, such as those in Bernalillo county, are already overloaded with uninsured patients who have no access to alternative health care; and

     WHEREAS, the president's decision to terminate funding for urban Indian health programs will place an inequitable burden on the taxpayers of New Mexico and on the remaining health care providers; and

     WHEREAS, the country's obligation to fund health services for American Indian beneficiaries is founded in treaty, statute and the United States constitution;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico congressional delegation be requested to urge the United States congress to maintain funding for urban Indian health programs in the 2007 federal budget; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the secretary of health, the Navajo Nation, the all Indian pueblo council, the members of New Mexico's congressional delegation, the United States secretary of health and human services and the director of the Indian health service.

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