There is a lot of debate about Health Care Reform but there is only one reason that I oppose the kind of reform that is being pushed by BHO, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid (has a more evil trio ever combined arms, I don't know) is that it will transform our Health Care system over to a massive Government Run health care system. Government run health care. Just mull that over a minute. Say it again and think about what it means. Government run health care. We have a history of that, right here in the USA. Let me explain, it's ugly and it's a very personal thing for me.
My Mother was born into the Jicarilla Apache Indian Tribe. Part of the formerly great Apache Indian nation, they were kept in captivity for some 39 years outside of their original tribal areas (Florida, Alabama and Oklahoma). When finally "released" they were relegated to living on Reservations established by well meaning white people (well maybe, they were still carrying a grudge for my Mothers people). These reservations are nowhere near the size necessary for the Indians to return to their original lives (without the fighting and killing) and become self sufficient. They would require Government help to get by.
The Government, understanding this established many policies and agencies to 'help' the Indian with living in this strange new world. One of these over arching policies and agency is their Health Care policy and the Indian Health Service. Known as the IHS, this agency was established in 1887 to provide Native Americans (Indian Americans) with health service.
This agency operates clinics in 35 states around the country including Alaska. For well over 100 years the US Government has provided cradle to grave health coverage for the Native Americans in this country.
Why is this not touted in the press, why indeed is the Administration not advertising the fact that we have Government health care in full operation in the country today? Why not simply expand it to cover all 300 million Americans using the IHS as a template? Hmmmm, what could it be that the Administration, the Democrats and the MSM are all hiding from?
Let's take a look. Here is a startling series of facts. In the 1900 census there were 237,000 Native Americans remaining and there were 114,000 people counted of Asian descent. This is out a total of more than 62million Americans (see reference 1), so their portion of the population for both peoples was very small in 1900 (less than .1% for each).
What are they today?
Well the Asians account for 4.4% of the overall US Population (as of February 2006) or over 13 million (see reference 2). This is despite not having a US Agency dedicated to providing them health care. This is from them having to milk out health care the good old fashion way, from the free market system.
Over this same time the Indian Americans increased their population to a whopping 2 million or to 0.68% of the US Population (see reference 2). Stunning. It seems as if the US Government was trying to rid the country of its Natives! I mean you cannot survive as a distinct culture if you cannot grow your population. And this great health care service is slowing but surly eliminating the Indian Americans they are supposed to take care of.
This is why I don't support Government run health service. And it is more personal than you realize with me.
The Indian Americans in this country have infant mortality that is way higher than the average of the rest of Americans (2005 numbers, 6.9 All Races, 8.1 Native Americans, see reference 3). Death in the IHS Clinics is so common place that many pregnant Indian American mothers resort to extreme measure to stay out of them.
I am an example of that distrust and fear. When my Mother went into labor she demanded my Father drive her to the nearest Anglo (their word for anything white) or Public hospital. It was 80 miles away. On the way out of the little reservation town they drove past the Clinic she was supposed to go to, it was less than 2 miles from home. I was born in the back of a Rambler Classic sedan some 60 miles into that 80 mile drive. My chances of survival were better in that car alone with my little family than they were in the IHS Clinic.
This speaks volumes.
Why does anybody trust the Government to something as intimate, and important as you health care? They cannot do it better, that is a foregone conclusion.
Can they do it cheaper? Well, let's see. In 2007 the average resident of the US spent $7,421 dollars on health care (see reference 4). Seems like a lot but we have the best free market system in the world. That is a lot of money.
This is what you hear the Dem's saying all the time; they have to make health care more affordable!!! How many times do you hear them rant about the high cost of health insurance?
How much does the US Government spend on the Native Americans? Yeah, with the entire Treasury of the US behind it the Health and Human Services (which is the Department that the IHS is in) spends a mere $2400 dollars per Indian American. Cheap enough for you? If you are a senior, try buying all your Med's on that amount every year. You want a new hip, better bring one with you. Everything is rationed. Everything is planned by the bureaucracy. If it was not thought of last year, you don't get it this year.
Whatever you do, don't get sick after June. They just don't have the budget to take care of you for the full year.
You see none of this in the MSM. I have seen only passing comments on this, no big story or investigation. The Administration gets a complete pass and you know as well as I that they would simply blame everything on the Bush Administration. And that is partially true, as many, many Administrations are to blame. The one thing the BHO Administration does not want is people drawing comparisons between the IHS and that BHO desires for Universal Health Care for the entire country. Not a good track record.
Native Americans don't complain. They suck it up and take it. They are a broken people. They 'lost' the war for the great country they once lived in. To this day the best outcome for a Native American is to leave their culture behind. It is what my Mother did and why I was raised for the most part in the big City. Away from the reservation, away from the squalor and decay that is so prevalent on the reservations.
That is why so many Indian Americans run from their heritage; to get away is to survive.
No Government health care for me, if I had wanted it I would have stayed where it was free. Of course I would most likely be dead right now, but it would have been free.
BT: Jimmy T sends.
References:
(1) US Census Bureau, Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990
(2) US Census Bureau, 2006 American Community Survey
(3) CDC 2008, National Vital Statistics Reports, Table 6
(4) Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group, 2007 National Health Care Expenditures Data
5 comments:
There is so much in this one post to spark conversation. Your perspective is apparently from libertarian Native American (notice what is capitalized).
"To this day the best outcome for a Native American is to leave their culture behind," you say.
I'd disagree. The better outcome is for all of us native Americans (and those immigrating in good faith) to embrace the better parts of cultures that come from all over the world, with restrictions on gubbmint which enables that freedom.
Ethnically Kraut/Anglo, I love my Spanglish, Olive Garden, fry bread (yes I know that's a tourist gimmick), bratwurst, curry, and Annasazi culture.
Yours,
Bobby R sends
(aka Reese)
It has long been a dirty little secret that if one wanted to see the dysfunctional results of real-live working bureaucratic socialism/communism in the flesh one could do far worse than to take a gander at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. A more corrupt, inefficient, maladaptive organization would be hard to build on purpose. A classic example of whats eventually in store for us all if Obamacare is enacted.
Bob, I agree with you on the whole melting pot idea. I have used that argument discussing with black Americans why after so many years they still feel neglected by the “Man” and why they carry so much animus against America in general. Beside the fact that their color will never really allow them to integrate like say the Irish and Italians they still insist on keeping themselves from that integration. They insist on preferential treatment for Government services and aid. Aid that every other group of immigrants that have successfully integrated here do not insist on having or getting. That was why I gave the Asians as an example of the performance of the IHS, they have flourished here, keeping their culture, their family heritage and growing is numbers. But they have done that completely within the Free Market system; they have done it with little or NO Government intervention.
That is what I’d like to see for Native Americans. Get the Government out of their lives as much as possible, set them free and watch what happens. They flourished in one of the most hostile places in America all on their own. I say, give it back to them, freedom I mean. Break the bonds to the government.
VX - I agree and that is only the BIA. The HHS funds the IHS but there are other agencies that interfere with Native American life that serve only contradict other government activity. Its a real shame.
BT: Jimmy T sends.
So--Is the administration of the IHS COMPLETELY separate from the BIA? I mean, ok, the funds come from HHS, but the BIA has NOTHING to say about the activities of IHS on Indian land? Enlighten this fossil please--I guess I really never thought about it much, always assumed everything was funneled thru BIA administrative-wise.
VX - they are separate and stand alone and because they are not in the same department they don't even talk to each other. The BIA's main job is to help with the rape and pillage of the natural resources on Native American lands. Consequently, it is over in the Interior Department where they can better decide who could and will use those resources. Screwing the Native Americans out of the resource, the land and any all of the funds that selling that resource would have normally garnered.
It's tough out there when you have to fight the Government at every turn. Did I mention that my Mothers Tribe had to sue to get citizenship?
BT: Jimmy T sends.
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