A tribal health meeting with Senator Johanns took place at his Omaha office on July 1st. The purpose of this meeting was to give tribal representatives an opportunity to focus exclusively on Native healthcare issues.
Representatives voiced a variety of concerns including:
- Attempting to service growing populations with inadequate funding
- Health care monies being eaten up by critical care “level one” problems leaving precious little funding for prevention programs
- Unique challenges serving an economically disadvantaged, mostly rural minority population.
Johanns who is a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, stated that this position on the committee allows him to work closely with the chairman to try to find solutions to the health care problems discussed at the meeting.