When you are granted a referral; it is not a guarantee of payment for FULL treatment. And that is exactly the problem with the system. It prohibits the medical experts from fully engaging in treatment for a patient and leaves the diagnosis/treatment in sometimes “life or death” limbo. Waiting for the program to render judgement for further treatment. All the while a patient’s condition either worsens or leads to more ill effects. If a patient does seek treatment, because waiting for an approval from a program staffed by non-medical experts could prove too painful and life threatening. The patient is then required to assume the cost of treatment and if they can’t afford payment, they are sent to collections. This is where the PRC has become the single biggest purveyor of economic oppression in Indian country since termination. When a person is sent to collections, the repercussions can prove to be astronomically detrimental. It could affect your employability, your ability to get a home loan, buy a car or go to college. The affects of being sent to collections can haunt you for life.
I don’t believe this is what our forebears envisioned for their people when they agreed to be relegated to the reservations of present. I don’t even think that this broken, selective PRC process is what the Snyder Act intended to do in the first place. I think the act, in fact, was meant to establish what should have been done decades before. And that was an acknowledgment by the federal government of a “trust responsibility” to the First Nations people or in todays business terms, a DEBT. Our First Nations people should not have to jump through hoops in their humble pursuit to seek the honoring of that “trust responsibility” that….debt. Further, where is the moral and ethical logic behind a program that is designed to play the equivalency of Russian roulette with people’s health care. Where is the traditional values in telling a sick grandmother or a grandfather they can not do that follow up appointment that the specialist requested? Where is the logic in telling people with unpreventable illness like arthritis, Alzheimer’s, or Parkinson’s that they aren’t priority?
There is no clear solution to remedy the atrocities that the PRC has created. We can individually do our part though. We can educate ourselves about the program. The program can do a MUCH better job in their pursuit to educate the public. We can educate our elected officials or even better; Elect officials who understand trust responsibility. The burden of education lies with all parties involved. This failing system requires, not more talk, but action…NOW!
Kellen Returns From Scout is the current president of the He Sapa American Indian Business Leaders at Oglala Lakota College where he is a senior majoring in Business Administration with an emphasis in Management. Kellen was recently named Mr. AIHEC 2018 and will serve as a spokesperson for the organization where he will address the many issues facing tribal colleges and their students. He will continue to be an avid champion of people exercising their right to vote and becoming involved in their community through participation and service. You can follow the American Indian Business Leaders on Facebook @OLCHeSapaAIBL. Or email Kellen at [email protected]