Jeff Merkley

During a May 11, 2022, Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Interior hearing to review the fiscal Year 2023 President's Budget for IHS, Senator Jeff Merkley asked IHS Acting Director Elizabeth Fowler if more grants went out to UIOs due to…

The rest of the developed world has figured out that you can provide much better health care and much lower cost, and that is what Medicare for All is all about.

I think about all the providers who say they spend all their time sorting through the many different insurance systems, trying to figure out what they can charge.

If you really want competition within the existing system and you did not support Medicare for All, then you support a public option.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and I appreciate this conversation so much because our health care system is so enormously stressful.

Thank you and just a huge thank you to all the nurses who make the world better one bedside at a time.

What is worse for America than the inflation we have in the medical system? It is massive because there are not competitive forces to drive it down.

During a May 11, 2022, Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Interior hearing to review the fiscal Year 2023 President's Budget for IHS, Senator Jeff Merkley asked IHS Acting Director Elizabeth Fowler if more grants went out to UIOs due to…

Not one more child should be at risk.

I see whistleblower protection as essential.

Okay. I will submit questions for the record to better understand how we're spending the additional money in that account and understanding how urban Indian population is being better served, like what specific changes have occurred.

The PRC fundings are not sufficient to pay for all needed services and so it's basically saying we're not sure even if you get a setup, that notice in 72 hours that you're going to get helped and this is what's wrong with health care in…

I looked at it and I just went my goodness, this is a nightmare for how a person, a member of a tribe in a place like Washington, D.C., accesses medical care.

Okay. So the program remains the same, but it remains available at more locations in Indian Country?

I don't think of that as administrative costs at all. I think of it as a core part of the construction from beginning to end to get it designed right.

Okay. Well, thank you. We want to keep working with you to explore that question.

Thank you very much, Senator. It's so rare to leave a little bit of time on your clock.

We've seen interesting reports across the nation from health care clinics that essentially have had the therapeutics, but they don't even prescribe them when people come in.

So in partnership with our colleagues from Indian Affairs, we've been trying to schedule a meeting with OMB and IHS to explore the technical details and there's not been a responsive communication from the Administration.

Well, when that happens, that means more children are abused, like a thousand percent unacceptable.

This is like the story we never want to hear.

Can you personally keep me briefed on this? It's so important to the Warm Springs Tribe in my state.

So we are really pleased that the infrastructure bill had $3.5 billion to clear the backlog on the sanitation deficiencies list at the time of passage and we're looking forward to seeing the projects actually get done.

Because if the Administration is not responsive, then it's clear it's not a serious proposal and so we're ready to dive into the details and explore it, but we need the partnership from the Executive Branch in that regard.

There's always some reservation on Capitol Hill to forego the oversight function