Don't Get Sick After June - If you like Indian Health Services you’ll love the public option.

Fox News.com ^ | November 5, 2009 | Senator Tom Coburn

[greatplains]

Don’t get sick after June” is a well known saying in Indian Country. It refers to the month when the federally managed Indian Health Service (IHS) program runs out of money.

It’s “a pretty accurate mantra,” according to Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program.

IHS is a shameful example of how patients suffer when their care is relegated to a government bureaucracy that rations care. IHS, in fact, characterizes the service it provides as a “rationed health care system.” As many in Congress continue to push for a public option run by the government, Americans should familiarize themselves with the tragic story of IHS.

[greatplains]

With multiple examples of how the plan is going to be (mis)managed, why don't more people wake up? Curious.

[Daisyjane69]

I was in Taos, on their pueblo in April.

Every bad thing you’ve heard about the Indian Health Service is true. I got that word first hand.

[The Great RJ]

My wife formerly worked for a community health care organization. When visiting one of their clinics in Eagle Butte, SD which served primarily non Indians, she was surprised to learn that many Indians shunned the free care they could receive at the IHS hospital literally across the street and instead paid out of their own pocket to see doctors at the community health clinic. That says a lot about the kind of care delivered by the government run IHS.