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Transcript: James Hena

Contracting federal health programs as a means to Indian independence

[Hena:]
Back in the early ‘70s some of us got together and started talking about the need for doing what eventually transpired where a law was passed that allows for Indian governments to contract federal programs, but again if the appropriations don’t increase, the services don’t get better. They remain stagnant and/or even are reduced in some instances, and so contracting is a first-class avenue for Indians to be more independent. The amount of money that Congress appropriates is way down there so it’s not really effective in that sense.