Kennedy pledged to protect Native American health, but staffing and funding cuts have already taken a toll

Navajo Nation leaders took turns hiking alongside Kennedy to detail
the tribal nation’s priorities. (Photo by Katheryn Houghton, KFF) 

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged to make Native American health a priority, but federal cuts have already sliced into plans and services tribal members need.

While Kennedy’s intervention saved the Indian Health Service from some government cuts, "health officials across tribal nations say those overtures are overshadowed by the collateral harm from massive cuts to federal health programs," report Katheryn Houghton, Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez and Arielle Zionts of KFF Health News.

Tribal members living in more remote areas will have the most difficulty accessing medical services not affiliated with the Indian Health Service. "Many tribal members don’t live near an agency clinic or hospital. And those who do may face limited services, chronic underfunding, and staffing shortages,” KFF reports. “To work around those gaps, health organizations lean on other federally funded programs.”

"Tribes have lost more than $6 million in grants from other HHS agencies, the National Indian Health Board wrote in a May letter to Kennedy," Houghton, Rodriguez and Zionts write. Across many Native American communities, HHS staffing and grant cuts have chipped away at overdose prevention programs, heat and cooling assistance, and vaccination initiatives.

Native Tribal leaders continue to voice deep concerns over the GOP’s “proposed cuts to Medicaid,” KFF reports. "About 30% of Native American and Alaska Native people younger than 65 are enrolled in Medicaid, and the program helps keep Indian Health Service and other tribal health facilities afloat.”

“Some tribal leaders say the recent cuts, and the way the administration made them, violate treaties in which the U.S. promised to provide for the health and welfare of tribes in return for taking their land,” KFF reports. “Tribal consultation is legally required when federal agencies pursue changes that would have a significant impact on tribal nations."

Opinion: Jimmy Carter brought human rights to the forefront and 'made a lasting impact on the U.S. and the world'

Statue of Jimmy Carter outside the
Georgia State Capitol. (Adobe Stock photo)

Jimmy Carter was one of the few U.S. presidents in the past 50 years who grew up in a rural area. He was cherished by many Americans as a man of deep intelligence and wisdom who spent his life actively working to improve the lives of others. In her opinion for The New York Times, Samantha Power reminds readers of Carter's political and personal dedication to humankind. A selection of her thoughts is excerpted below.

"Jimmy Carter’s elevation of human rights in U.S. foreign policy offers many urgent lessons for today. . . . As president, he made a radical break with decades of foreign policy tradition, changed the world’s understanding of America’s aspirations, showed deep empathy for individuals who had suffered human rights abuse and, in so doing, made a lasting impact on both the United States and the world.

"As president, his foreign policy legacy. . . includes the negotiation of the Camp David Accords, which brought about an enduring peace between Israel and Egypt, and the establishment of diplomatic relations with China.

"Carter didn’t just change the way U.S. officials talked; he also changed the way they worked, taking steps no American president had taken. When he assumed office, the United States Agency for International Development had nearly twice as many staff members in Washington as in the field — an imbalance his administration corrected, in addition to significantly expanding the agency’s presence in sub-Saharan Africa.

"He issued Presidential Directive 30, which stipulated that 'countries with a good or substantially improving record of human rights observance will be given special consideration in the allocation of U.S. foreign assistance, just as countries with a poor or deteriorating record will receive less favorable consideration.'

"Carter was the first U.S. president to publicly denounce apartheid in South Africa and the first to make a state visit to sub-Saharan Africa. . . . He was the first president to assert clear American support for a 'Palestinian homeland.' . . . He was the first American president to elevate environmental conservation to a global concern.

"He became president after public trust in government had plunged. More than 70% of Americans believed the Vietnam War was not just a mistake but was 'fundamentally wrong and immoral.' He viewed his embrace of human rights as a means of restoring faith in America.

"As we mourn the loss of Jimmy Carter, we should remember that in doing something so radical for his time — elevating attention to the plight and dignity of individuals in U.S. foreign policy and then living those values until his final days — he changed our world for good."

Samantha Power is the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development.