Thomas Daschle: “I recently learned the story of a young Indian girl from South Dakota. Last year, when she began to lose weight and feel…”

“I recently learned the story of a young Indian girl from South Dakota. Last year, when she began to lose weight and feel stomach pains, she traveled to a nearby Indian Health Service clinic. She was diagnosed with heartburn, and since IHS clinics often don't have the resources to treat patients unless their lives are at immediate risk, she was told to go home. Over the course of the next several months, as her condition worsened, she returned to the clinic several times only to be turned away each time. Because she was never given a full checkup, the clinic failed to discover that her symptoms were not caused by heartburn but by stomach cancer. By the time her condition became critical, it was too late. Her cancer had spread, and there was nothing any doctor could do. Not long afterward, she died. Perhaps the saddest aspect of this story is that it is another example of what happens each and every day. For Native Americans and other minority communities across the country, the miracles of modern medicine--and sometimes even the most basic primary care--are beyond their reach. The disparities within our health care system have reached a crisis point, and the consequences for America's minority communities are staggering. The death rate for African American cancer patients is 30 percent higher than for whites. African Americans are also one-and-a-half times more likely to have coverage for an emergency room visit denied.”