2009: Lone Pine Paiute leader: ‘health care advances yet to reach American Indians’

Rachel A. Joseph, a past chairwoman of the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone in California, does not seek re-election so that she can serve as co-chairwoman of the of the National Steering Committee to Reauthorize the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. Joseph testifies before the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee. She tells the committee that the tremendous advances in medicine that the rest of America enjoys have yet to fully reach these communities. She believes that reauthorization of the act is key to modernizing health care for American Indians and Alaska Natives, bringing the standard of care practiced by the Indian Health Service up to contemporary medical standards.

“Over the last thirty years, progress has been made in reducing the occurrence of infectious diseases and decreasing the overall mortality rates. However, American Indians/Alaska Natives still have lower life expectancy than the general population,” Rachel A. Joseph, Co-Chairwoman of the National Steering Committee to Reauthorize the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, tells the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

Theme

Federal-Tribal Relations

Region

Arctic, California, Great Basin, Great Plains, Northeast, Northwest Coast, Plateau, Southeast, Southwest, Subarctic