fbpx
 

Becerra Will Take Aim at the Crumbling Rural Healthcare System Plagued by Hospital-Closings Serving Indian Country: The Response that Led to the COVID-19  Epic ‘Fail’

WASHINGTON — Facing pushback from Republican senators, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, President Biden’s nominee to become the next Health and Human Services secretary, only garnered a 14-14 tie coming out of Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday.

This means Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will have to bring the nomination to the full Senate for a four -hour debate prior to taking a vote to confirmation. If all Democrats and Republicans vote down party lines, Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, would be needed to cast the deciding vote to confirm Becerra.

On Friday, three American Indian organizations sent a joint letter to Senate leaders urging senators to support the nomination of Becerra. The letter stressed he will reverse the hospital crisis plaguing rural states and repair and reform the broken federal healthcare system that serves all American Indians and Alaska Natives.

In the strongly worded letter, the leaders of the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, the Global Indigenous Council, and the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association gave particular attention to how the coronavirus pandemic demonstrated with deadly accuracy the multitude of problems in the health system across Indian Country.

“For the Indigenous community, the swift confirmation of AG Becerra is literally a matter of life and death,” the groups wrote in the letters to senators. “In this moment of severe challenge and crisis in our country, we appeal for bipartisanship to save lives.”

 The letter detailed the problems with the federal healthcare system specific to the coronavirus pandemic, including:

  • Many Indian reservations served by IHS had no ICU beds at the outset of the pandemic
  • Many tribal administrations had to create hastily organized quasi-ICU facilities in empty buildings or Boys and Girls Clubs, some even erecting tent cities for quarantine areas.
  • Tribes were left to scramble for PPE and some only received critical supplies by the grace of private donors while the federal response was for month’s missing-in-action

Tom Rodgers (Blackfeet), president of the Global Indigenous Council, noted “the shameful and unnecessary crisis within the Indian Health Service (IHS) labyrinth is overshadowed by a crumbing rural healthcare system that was ignored as hospitals shuttered and doctors moved to cities and the suburbs, but the fact is IHS is so mired in malpractice and incompetence that it leaves even the urban Indigenous population at risk.”

“It’s shocking, frankly, that in the last four years an administration so tied to rural voters was detached from the healthcare needs of those people, and apparently got away with it,” Rodgers said. “With the utmost confidence, I can say firsthand that Atty. Gen. Becerra is going to jump on the overarching healthcare crisis, and he recognizes how repairing the system that serves Native Americans and Alaska Natives fits into that undertaking.”

The Indigenous groups backing Becerra led a successful effort backing the nomination of Deb Haaland as secretary of the Interior. Additional Indigenous groups are expected to join in supporting California Atty. Gen. Becerra for secretary of HHS.

More Stories Like This

House Passes Bipartisan Debt Ceiling Deal; How Native American Members of Congress Voted
History Made as First Navajo Appointed U.S. Federal Judge in California
California Bill Aims to Increase State Funding for Tribal Housing
Navajo Nation Leaders Recognized the Fallen on Memorial Day
This Day in History — May 28, 1830, Andrew Jackson Signs Indian Removal Act

Native News is free to read.

We hope you enjoyed the story you've just read. For the past dozen years, we’ve covered the most important news stories that are usually overlooked by other media. From the protests at Standing Rock and the rise of the American Indian Movement (AIM), to the ongoing epidemic of Murdered and Missing Indigenous People (MMIP) and the past-due reckoning related to assimilation, cultural genocide and Indian Boarding Schools.

Our news is free for everyone to read, but it is not free to produce. That’s why we’re asking you to make a donation to help support our efforts. Any contribution — big or small — helps.  Most readers donate between $10 and $25 to help us cover the costs of salaries, travel and maintaining our digital platforms. If you’re in a position to do so, we ask you to consider making a recurring donation of $12 per month to join the Founder's Circle. All donations help us remain a force for change in Indian Country and tell the stories that are so often ignored, erased or overlooked.

Donate to Native News Online today and support independent Indigenous journalism. Thank you. 

About The Author
Native News Online Staff
Author: Native News Online StaffEmail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Native News Online is one of the most-read publications covering Indian Country and the news that matters to American Indians, Alaska Natives and other Indigenous people. Reach out to us at [email protected].