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.168658.1
SENATE MEMORIAL 51
48
TH
LEGISLATURE
- STATE OF NEW MEXICO -
FIRST SESSION
, 2007
INTRODUCED BY
Shannon Robinson
A MEMORIAL
REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO URGE THE
UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO MAINTAIN FUNDING FOR URBAN INDIAN
HEALTH PROGRAMS IN THE 2008 FEDERAL BUDGET IN ORDER TO AVERT A
HEALTH CRISIS.
WHEREAS, the president of the United States, in his 2008
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
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.168658.1
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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 SENATE OF THE STATE
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.168658.1
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 2008 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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