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Posted: February 10, 2020
President Releases FY 2021 Budget Request
Includes some increases to IHS line items; major cuts to IHS also proposed
Today, the Trump Administration released the President's Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Budget Request. The release of the President's Budget officially kicks off the FY 2021 appropriations cycle, which continues in earnest tomorrow with the American Indian and Alaska Native Public Witness Hearings on the FY 2021 budget before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. As NIHB reported last week, Chairwoman and Great Plains Area Representative, Victoria Kitcheyan, will be testifying on behalf of NIHB...
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Posted: December 19, 2019
Congress Releases Final, Bicameral FY 2020 Spending Package
On Monday, December 16, 2019, the House and Senate released the final Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 appropriations package for all twelve discretionary appropriations bills. The roughly $1.3 trillion spending deal provides $738 billion in defense funding and $632 billion for all non-defense accounts for FY 2020. For the Interior budget, which funds the Indian Health Service (IHS), Bureau of Indian Affairs, and other agencies, Congress allocated $35.989 billion overall; for the Labor, Health and Human Services (Labor-HHS) budget, which funds agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Congress allocated $184.9 billion overall...
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Posted: December 19, 2019
IHCIA Remains in Place as Fifth Circuit Court Remands Questions Around ACA Constitutionality
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled that the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual mandate is unconstitutional and remanded to the District Court the question as to whether or not the remaining portions of the law are constitutional. The Court found that since the failure to comply with the individual mandate no longer generates revenue, it is no longer constitutional. The Supreme Court had previously held that individual mandate was constitutional under Congress’s tax and spend authority because the penalty for failing to comply was a tax that generated revenue for the federal government.
The ACA included the permanent reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA) and other Indian-specific provisions. NIHB and Tribal partners across Indian Country filed an amicus brief in this case to convey the fact that the IHCIA and Indian specific provisions of the ACA served a distinct purpose from the rest of the legislation and should not be included in any striking down of the entire law. NIHB has argued that since these provisions exist to fulfill the federal government's constitutional obligations to provide health services to Tribal Nations and American Indian and Alaska Native Peoples, they are severable from the rest of the ACA.
The fate of Tribal specific provisions in the law were not addressed in the majority opinion. It was however mentioned in the minority opinion which used the IHCIA as an example of a provision that exists independent of the individual mandate. Both the ACA and the permanent reauthorization of IHCIA made significant changes to the entire Indian health system, and its preservation has been a top priority for many Tribal Nations as well as NIHB.
Posted: December 18, 2019
Spending Deal for Fiscal Year 2020 Slated for Congressional Votes This Week
This week, Congress announced a bipartisan, bicameral agreement to fund the federal government for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020. The text of the agreement was made available on Monday. The House is scheduled to vote today on the agreement's two legislative packages, and the Senate is expected to follow suit before the current Continuing Resolution expires on Friday, December 20.
The FY 2020 agreement includes $6.04 billion for the Indian Health Service, a four percent increase from the $5.80 billion appropriated to the agency in 2019.
The spending package also includes a short-term extension of the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) for a period of 5 months, through May 22, 2020. NIHB has been heavily advocating for a long-term 5 year reauthorization of SDPI before the program expires this Friday, December 20; however, with negotiations ongoing regarding the legislative vehicle for long-term reauthorization of SDPI, another short-term extension was necessary to avoid program expiration. NIHB continues to stress to lawmakers the undue challenges and problems with short-term extensions, and will continue to strongly advocate for long-term reauthorization of SDPI.
For more information on how the spending agreement impacts the Indian health system, click here.
Posted: December 12, 2019
The Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) Office of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) releases two reports in partnership with Indian Health Service and the Office of the National Coordinator with goals to assess the current state of health IT at IHS, present electronic health record modernization options, and establish a strategic roadmap.
Strategic Options for the Modernization of the Indian Health Service Health Information Technology:
- Final Report - PDF
- Roadmap Executive Summary - PDF
- Recorded Webinar: HHS Health IT Modernization Project-Final Report
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