RYAN WHITE CARE ACT PASSES THE SENATE WITHOUT ADDRESSING NATIVE AMERICANS CONCERNS - Ron Rowell, Executive Director, NNAAPC

The AIDS lobbying community has been working very hard to insure the passage of Ryan White CARE Act reauthorization before Congress adjourns for this year's elections.  Unfortunately, there has been little support for the Native American AIDS community's attempts to insure that the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) covers the Indian Health Service-operated and funded health care services, insure that tribes are eligible to apply for Title III, or to address the weaknesses in in Part F. Special Projects of National Significance.  Thus, when the bill passed the Senate, nothing had been done to insure coverage for Native Americans.   It is reasonable to ask "Where was the Senate Indian Affairs Committee?"  It isn't as if they were not aware of the issues, since they have been brought to their attention in numerous briefings and in Committee testimony.  Those Senators who have always been strongly supportive of HIV/AIDS on the Committee from both sides of the aisle seem not to have believed that HIV/AIDS was a priority among their Native constituents.  

The lack of support from the larger AIDS community for Native American coverage comes as no surprise.  Although lip-service to "solidarity" in the movement is generous, the states and  impacted cities, and the mega-AIDS agencies in the larger cities, are unwilling to give an inch to insure that Native Americans are able to access adequate care and the drugs that can save their lives, especially if it means "set-asides."  Of course, set-asides are all right for states and cities.  It only becomes problematic when tribal governments are included.

The struggle isn't over yet, however.  The House still must pass its version of the reauthorization, then it must go to a Senate-House conference committee to iron-out any differences.  Therefore, there is still time to try to insure that we are not stuck for another five years with legislation that does not meet our tribes' and communities' needs.

Your elected representatives need to hear from you.  If you would like more information, a position statement signed by thirty tribes, urban Indian health programs, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian health programs can be found here.  Resolutions passed recently by the National Congress of American Indians on this issues can also be found here and here.

Native Americans living with HIV/AIDS deserve the highest quality of medical care possible, no matter where they reside.   The United States of America must live up to its trust responsibility to citizens of the First Nations on AIDS as on every other trust issue.  Nothing less is acceptable.