Contract Care, poverty, suicide go hand in hand
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Editor,
This is what I have to say about the health care we are receiving: help stop the suffering. It is truly a tragedy that Contract Care has been in place as long as it has when people are denied care over and over. It is obvious what the outcome could very well be, that person may lose their job, slip further into poverty, feel they are not important because our tribe continues to allow Contract Care to tell us these things. People need to speak up and against the neglect and abuse that Contract Care is getting away with.
Some of the members may be familiar with most of the federal regulations that Contract Care has been operating by; this one in particular I found to be very disturbing : 64, no. 208 36.22 (6) (b) The secretary may from time to time re-designate areas of communities within the United States as appropriate for inclusion or exclusion from a contract health services delivery area. After consultation with the tribal governing body or bodies on those reservations included within the contract health service delivery area the secretary will take the following criteria into consideration: (1) The number of Indians residing in the area proposed to be so included: (2) Whether the tribal governing body has determined that Indians residing in the area near the reservation are socially and economically affiliated with the tribe, (3) The geographic proximity to the reservation of those areas whose inclusion or exclusion is being considered, and (4) The level of funding which would be available for the provision of contract health services. (c) Any re-designation under Paragraph (b) of this section shall be made in accordance with the procedures of the Administrative procedure Act (5 U.S.C.553).
The Secretary of Interior can exclude any amount of Indians from the geographic area of the Contract Care services, for example the town of Evaro, Ronan, and Elmo, etc. It is a shame that Contract Care has operated as long as it has.
Sharlene Peone
Pablo
