Thomas Daschle: “we have estimates of the funding that would be required to provide basic clinical services to American Indians and…”

“we have estimates of the funding that would be required to provide basic clinical services to American Indians and Alaska Natives. The President's fiscal year 2002 budget requests $1.8 billion for Indian Health Service clinical services. While this is an increase over the fiscal year 2001 appropriation, it will not allow the Indian Health Service to meet the basic level of health needs for American Indians and Alaskan Natives. For many years now, appropriations for the Indian Health Service have not even kept pace with medical inflation or population growth. The per capita spending on health care for each Indian Health Service beneficiary is only one-third of what is spent per capita for the general U.S. population. The Department of Health and Human Services and the Indian Health Service produce a tribal needs-based budget that calculates the true cost of meeting the health needs of Native Americans. According to these estimates, a $4.2 billion increase in the 2002 budget is required to meet the most basic health care needs. The impact of serious, chronic under-funding of the Indian Health Service is immense. The disparities in health outcomes between American Indians and Alaska Natives as compared to other Americans is appalling. Infant mortality is just one example. An American Indian baby is 50 percent more likely to die before the age of one than a Caucasian baby.”