Action Alert: Contact Congress to Increase Funding for Indian Health TODAY
Dear Advocates,
We need your help contacting Congress to support access to health care for urban Native communities!
Representatives Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) and Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ-07) are leading a letter to leadership of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies.
The letter calls for the highest possible funding for Urban Indian Health and Indian Health Service and recommends funding at $965.3 million and $53.85 billion, respectively. These amounts reflect the recommendations made by the Tribal Budget Formulation Workgroup. The letter also calls for advance appropriations for IHS for FY 2026 and protection against sequestration in the final FY 2025 spending bill. To ensure that Urban Indian Organizations receive as much support as possible, we encourage you to contact your Member of Congress and request that they sign on to the Gallego-Grijalva Urban Indian Health letter.
You can use the text below as a template to call and/or email your Representative. If you can please, call and email your representative. You can find your representative here.
Thank you for your leadership. Your outreach on this is invaluable to providing greater access to health care for American Indians and Alaska Natives in urban areas.
Sincerely,
The National Council of Urban Indian Health
Ways to Advocate
- Contact Congress
- Post on Facebook
CONTACT CONGRESS
Step 1: Copy the email below.
Step 2: Find your representative here.
Step 3: Go to their website and click contact.
Step 4: Paste the email into the form and send. Please contact Meredith Raimondi (policy@ncuih.org) with questions.
Email to Your Representative
Dear Representative [NAME],
As an urban Indian health advocate, I respectfully request you sign on to the Gallego-Grijalva letter to the House Committee on Appropriations in support of increasing funding for the Indian Health Service and the Urban Indian Health line item for FY25.
Urban Indian Organizations (UIOs) provide essential healthcare services to patients from over 500 Tribes in 38 urban areas across the United States. As an integral part of the Indian health care delivery system, UIOs rely on funding from the Indian Health Service (IHS) to provide care to American Indian and Alaska Native people living in urban areas. UIOs depend on scarce federal resources to provide services to their American Indian and Alaska Native patients. The Urban Indian Health line item historically makes up only one percent (1%) of IHS’ annual appropriation and UIOs often only receive direct funding from the Urban Indian Health line item. Without a significant increase to the Urban Indian Health line item, UIOs will continue to be forced to operate on limited and inflexible budgets, that limit their ability to fully address the needs of their patients.
The letter calls for the highest possible funding for the Indian Health Service and the Urban Indian Health line item and recommends funding at $53.85 billion and $965.3 million, respectively, and requests that the committee to maintain advance appropriations for FY2026, and to protect IHS from sequestration in the final FY 2025 spending bill. I respectfully ask that you help honor the Federal trust obligation to provide health service to American Indian and Alaska Natives, no matter where they live by signing on to this letter.
Sign on to the letter by reaching out to Emma Reidy (emma.reidy@mail.house.gov) with any questions.
Thank you for your leadership and your commitment to urban Indian health.
Sincerely,
[contact information]
POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Post your support on your Facebook.
Example post:
We need your help to support urban American Indian and Alaska Native communities! Urban Indian Organizations provide essential healthcare services to American Indian and Alaska Native patients from over 500 Tribes in 38 urban areas across the United States. Call on your Representative TODAY and urge them to sign on to the Gallego-Grijalva Urban Indian Health funding letter.
NCUIH Contact: Meredith Raimondi, Vice President of Policy and Communications, mraimondi@ncuih.org
NCUIH Supports Tribal Sovereignty
NCUIH respects and supports Tribal sovereignty and the unique government-to-government relationship between our Tribal Nations and the United States. NCUIH works to support those federal laws, policies, and procedures that respect and uplift Tribal sovereignty and the government-to-government relationship. NCUIH does not support any federal law, policy, or procedure that infringes upon, or in any way diminishes, Tribal sovereignty or the government-to-government relationship.