On July 21, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs held a hearing on a bill (H.R. 2440) to reauthorize the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (P.L. 94-437).
Sponsored by Rep. Don Young (R-AK), the measure would reauthorize through FY2015 programs under the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Indian Health Service. The bill also would include a number of provisions specific to women’s health, including funding “to monitor and improve the quality of health care for Indian women of all ages.”
H.R. 2440 would authorize the development of a comprehensive behavioral health prevention and treatment program that would encourage collaboration among alcohol and substance abuse, social services, and mental health programs. For children under the age of 17, behavioral health services would include the promotion of healthy choices with a focus on sexually transmitted diseases, domestic violence, sexual abuse, teen pregnancy, and obesity. For adults, behavioral health services would include the promotion of gender-specific healthy choices with a focus on parenting, domestic violence, and sexual assault.
The bill would authorize funding for the development of a comprehensive substance abuse program with a focus on “prevention, intervention, treatment, and relapse prevention services that specifically address the spiritual, cultural, historical, social, and child care needs of Indian women.” The measure also would authorize the establishment of a fetal alcohol disorder program “to identify and provide behavioral health treatment to high-risk Indian women and high-risk women pregnant with an Indian’s child.”
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson said that legislation to reauthorize the Indian Health Care Improvement Act “should provide increased flexibility to enable the Department to work with Tribes to improve the quality of health care for American Indian people, to better empower the Tribes to provide quality health care, to increase the availability of health care, including new approaches to delivering care, and to expand the scope of health services available to eligible American Indians and Alaska Natives.” Expressing his support for H.R. 2440, Secretary Thompson noted that the bill “provides for the needs of Indian women and youth and expands behavioral health services to include a much needed child sexual abuse and prevention treatment program.” He said that HHS “supports this effort, but we recommend you permit the Secretary the flexibility to provide for these important programs in a manner that supports the local control and priorities of Tribes to address their specific needs.”
