[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 204 (Thursday, December 3, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H6126-H6127]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HEALTH CARE ACCESS FOR URBAN NATIVE VETERANS ACT

  Mr. CASE. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4153) to amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to 
authorize urban Indian organizations to enter into arrangements for the 
sharing of

[[Page H6127]]

medical services and facilities, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 4153

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Health Care Access for Urban 
     Native Veterans Act''.

     SEC. 2. SHARING ARRANGEMENTS WITH FEDERAL AGENCIES.

       Section 405 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (25 
     U.S.C. 1645) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)(1), by inserting ``urban Indian 
     organizations,'' before ``and tribal organizations''; and
       (2) in subsection (c)--
       (A) by inserting ``urban Indian organization,'' before ``or 
     tribal organization''; and
       (B) by inserting ``an urban Indian organization,'' before 
     ``or a tribal organization''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Hawaii (Mr. Case) and the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Bishop) each will 
control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Hawaii.


                             General Leave

  Mr. CASE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Hawaii?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CASE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, H.R. 4153, the Health Care Access for Urban Native 
Veterans Act, will ensure that Native American veterans have equal 
access to healthcare, regardless of their location of residence, by 
expanding Department of Veterans Affairs, VA, funding to include urban 
Indian health centers.
  The Indian Health Service acts as the primary Federal agency 
responsible for providing healthcare to federally recognized Indian and 
Alaska Native communities. Currently, there are three types of 
facilities that make up the IHS system: Federally-operated facilities, 
tribally-operated facilities, and urban Indian organization-operated, 
UIO, facilities.
  As opposed to the federally-operated and tribally-operated 
facilities, which are often located in remote areas, UIO facilities 
have been established in larger cities in order to accommodate the 
large populations of tribal members located in urban areas.
  By law, a Native veteran is eligible to receive services under both 
the VA and IHS and can choose which one to use at any given time. 
Section 405 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, or IHCIA, 
authorizes the VA to reimburse federally-operated and tribally-operated 
IHS facilities for any services that they provide to eligible Native 
veterans.
  To that end, the VA has entered into one national reimbursement 
agreement that encompasses 74 federally-operated IHS facilities, as 
well as 114 individual reimbursement agreements with tribally-operated 
IHS sites.
  However, because Section 405 does not explicitly reference UIOs, 
these facilities are excluded from receiving any reimbursements from 
the VA. This has severely hampered the ability of urban Indian health 
organizations to properly care for the Native veterans living in urban 
centers and has forced these veterans to travel great distances to 
reach an IHS facility or, sadly, to abstain from treatment altogether.
  We can all agree that Native veterans should have equal access to 
healthcare, regardless of where they choose to reside. As such, H.R. 
4153 will bring parity to the IHS system by allowing UIOs to enter into 
reimbursement agreements with the VA.
  I want to thank the sponsor of the bill, Representative Ro Khanna 
from California, for advocating on behalf of Native veterans 
everywhere, and I urge quick adoption of this bipartisan legislation.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  This is a good bill, and we obviously have no problems with this 
particular bill.
  When I started, I talked about kleinigkeiten on the small stuff. As 
good as this is, it is still small stuff and, actually, it is taken 
out--it is a portion of S. 886, which deals with Indian water rights 
settlements and extensions. That entire bill, if you really want to 
help out Native American populations, if you really want to solve some 
of these problems for them, especially during this time, with the 
pandemic going on and hitting those areas even harder than some of the 
others, that entire Senate bill should be taken up and passed.
  Now, the fact that you have taken a small portion of that out and put 
it here as a separate bill still makes this a decent bill and I am 
supportive of it. But if we really cared, and we were really important 
with what we did, take the entire Udall bill, bring it over here and 
pass the damn thing so that we can get it signed and get it enacted 
into law. That is really what would help people and that wouldn't be 
kleinigkeiten. That is a big deal.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. CASE. Madam Speaker, I urge adoption of this measure, and I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Case) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, H.R. 4153.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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