The federal spending and tax bills
propose deep spending cuts
to health care, greatly
impacting Wisconsin's tribal
communities.
Here and now reporter Erica Aisey
spoke with Shannon Holsey,
president of the Stockbridge Muncie
Band of Mohican Indians about
how these proposed cuts could impact
tribal clinics in the state.
She's here to describe that impact,
Erica.
Tribal clinics like Stockbridge
Muncie Health and Wellness Center
provide medical services to tribal
members and community members.
But proposed spending cuts to Indian
Health Services, Medicare,
and Medicaid would cut across all
Wisconsin tribes.
This report is in collaboration with
ICT, formerly Indian
Country Today.
It's not just a budget.
It's a trust and treaty
responsibility that the
United States has entered into with
tribal nations for what was
taken and what was supposed
to be returned in the
loss of our land.
Shannon Holsey, president of the
Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican
Indians, says the tribe's Health
and Wellness Center is partly funded
by the Indian Health Service,
or IHS, a federal
agency that provides tribal medical
services across the country,
including for Wisconsin's 11
federally recognized tribes.
So that is the unique.
Relationship that exists and
the agreements that were entered
into by the United States and
tribal nations.
While the proposed $8 billion
budget for IHS is an
increase, Holsey says the package
lacks advanced appropriations
that are needed for funding
predictability.
What one of the existential threats
of this big, beautiful bill is, is
that they're going to strip the
advanced appropriations and we're
going back into a dysfunctional
cycle.
Funding the tribe's health center is
complex.
It costs our nation about 16 million
to operate it annually.
Of that, it's multifaceted
in the resources that come.
It's a mix of both private insurance
and.
27 percent of the
tribal clinics' funding comes from
Medicare and Medicaid.
According to the Congressional
Budget Office, the proposed bill
would reduce federal Medicaid by
$793 billion.
We have a responsibility to our
citizens as a sovereign nation.
So it's going to be up to our tribal
government to come up with that
offset to meet the basic needs and
demands.
What are some of the health concerns
that tribal members are
facing the community?
What we're seeing in our community
is disproportionate rates of people
being diagnosed with heart disease,
diabetes, and cancer, alarming
rates of cancer.
And as you can imagine,
that will tax your
healthcare system.
The bill also proposes adding
job requirements to Medicaid.
Holsey says she's concerned that
Wisconsin's rural tribal communities
could disproportionately lose
coverage because of additional
hurdles
Health care.
There hasn't been a well thought out
plan in terms of
how that is accessed
but really what we're talking about
is a human rights
issue.
For compromise in the proposed
federal spending and tax bill,
but for her, access to
health care for Wisconsin's 43,000
tribal population.
Is non-negotiable.
We also have a responsibility as
tribal nations to make sure the
federal government upholds our trust
and treaty responsibility and
robustly engage and remind
the United States government and
others that as sovereign nations
they have a responsibility to tribal
nations.
Even as the wrangling over
the federal spending tax bill
continues, one provision of
the Medicaid overhaul would
eliminate the Opioid Abatement
Program.
That's a prevention program
addressing the opioid epidemic
affecting Native communities across
the state.
Thank you, Erica.
In related news, it began
as an emergency response
to the pandemic, but the Tribal
Elder Food Box Program has
grown into a vital source of
nourishment and cultural pride for
Wisconsin's Native American elders.
Now, with federal funds running out,
the program's future and the health
of those who depend on it faces
new uncertainty.
Here and now reporter Aditi Debnath
has the story.