Increase proposed for Indian Health Service budget

San Carlos Facility Under Construction

President Obama’s proposed fiscal year 2014 budget authority for the Indian Health Service includes a 2.9 percent increase. The proposed IHS budget appropriation request is $4.4 billion. This is a $124 million increase over the FY 2012 appropriation. Tribal consultation is fundamental to the IHS budget process, and the proposed budget incorporates tribal priorities and recommendations.

The budget request supports and expands the provision of health care services and public health programs for American Indians and Alaska Natives. It includes these approximate increases:

• $35 million to help purchase health care from the private sector through the Purchased/Referred Care (PRC) program, which is under proposal to be called the Purchased/Referred Care program.
• $77.3 million to support staffing and operating costs at new and replacement facilities.
• $5.8 million to fund contract support costs incurred by tribes in managing their own health programs.

Funding was also included to continue construction of a health care facility in Kayenta, Ariz., and to complete construction of a health care facility in San Carlos, Ariz., and the Southern California Youth Regional Treatment Center near Hemet, Calif.

If the proposed budget is enacted, the IHS discretionary budget will have increased 32 percent since FY 2008. The IHS FY 2014 proposed budget is available online at: http://wwwdev.ihs.gov/BudgetFormulation/index.cfm?module=dsp_bf_congressional.

The IHS, an agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provides a comprehensive health service delivery system for approximately 2.1 million American Indians and Alaska Natives who are members of federally recognized tribes.