{"id":430421,"date":"2017-09-20T16:11:54","date_gmt":"2017-09-20T22:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=430421"},"modified":"2017-09-21T09:32:55","modified_gmt":"2017-09-21T15:32:55","slug":"in-indian-country-obamacare-repeal-is-a-life-or-death-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/09\/in-indian-country-obamacare-repeal-is-a-life-or-death-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"In Indian Country, Obamacare repeal is a life-or-death issue"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Shiprock\"

U.S. Geological Survey<\/p>

Shiprock, which is located on the Navajo Nation in San Juan County, N.M.<\/p><\/div>\n

Nowhere has the federal government\u2019s failure to meet its treaty responsibilities to American Indians and Alaskan Natives caused more human suffering than in its failure to provide adequate health care. American Indians and Alaskan Natives are the original peoples of this country. When they ceded their lands by treaty to European colonists in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries, they received certain guarantees in exchange, including the promise that the U.S. would provide them and their descendants with education and health care.<\/p>\n

During the Obama Administration, Congress took a major step toward remedying the long-standing catastrophe that was the American Indian and Alaska Native health-care system. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 gave states the option of expanding Medicaid to include all adults ages 19 to 64 who met income guidelines, and promised to pick up 100 percent of the tab for the first three years, phasing down to\u00a090 percent in 2020<\/a>. Thirty-two states, including the District of Columbia, took up the offer, and Indian Country began to see improved health services and outcomes.<\/p>\n