Native Health Care

In this week’s South Dakota news, a civil trial at the Aberdeen federal courthouse challenges the implementation of HB 1094, and reports from counties in Minnesota and North Dakota show communities divided over refugee resettlement. Is the quarrel soon coming to South Dakota?

For about a decade the rate of uninsured Native American children in South Dakota declined by almost fifty percent. In the same period, the rate of uninsured adults went up.

That’s according to a recent study out of Georgetown University, which finds South Dakota is one of two states in the country where that happened.

According to a nationwide study of health insurance coverage rates from 2008 to 2015, the uninsured rate for American Indian and Alaska Native children and families has declined.

 Indian Health Service facilities in Pine Ridge and Rosebud were closed earlier.  The move comes alongside allegations the IHS facilities are failing to meet basic standards of service and care. Now, the U-S Senate Committee for Indian Affairs is planning a hearing in South Dakota in June.