News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2004 |
HHS Press Office
(202) 690-6343 |
Statement by Tommy G. Thompson Secretary of Health and Human Services Regarding Reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act
Secretary of Health and Human Services Regarding Reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act
I commend the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and the House Resources Committee for their important work today to pass a bipartisan reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA). This landmark legislation forms the backbone of the system through which numerous federal health programs serve American Indians and Alaska Natives.
This department is strongly committed to the reauthorization of the IHCIA during this Congress in order to improve the health status of American Indian people and to increase the availability of health services for them. It is an essential vehicle to deliver badly needed health care services to American Indian and Alaska Native communities. This should enable the department to continue 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.
The passage of the bill today by the Senate Indian Affairs and House Resources Committees is an important step forward in our joint efforts. We pledge to continue working with both the House and Senate as they move forward on this critical legislation.
As Secretary of Health and Human Services, I have traveled widely to Indian country over the past three years and visited with Tribes from the Chippewa Indians and Oglala Sioux Tribe, to Alaska Native Villages including Point Hope and Kwethluk. It has been my goal to improve coordination to the maximum extent possible among the operating and staff divisions at the department and to encourage collaboration between the department and Tribes on the many programs impacting their members. I am also proud of the many achievements we have made in these programs over that past three years in the areas of access, consultation, collaboration, organization, education, sanitation facilities construction and Medicare reform.
Accordingly, I commend Chairman Campbell and Chairman Pombo for today's committee passage, and I hope to continue to work with this committee and other committees of the Congress, the National Tribal Steering Committee, and other representatives of Indian country on this critical legislation.
###
Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.
Last Revised: September 22, 2004
|