Dana Ferguson

dferguson@argusleader.com

South Dakota tribes are experiencing a "health crisis" because of inadequate care provided by the Indian Health Service, a tribal chairman told legislators Thursday.

Harold Frazier, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, told the Legislature in South Dakota's first State of the Tribes address that the IHS "has continually failed our people" and the federal government can't effectively run the health system.

He applauded Gov. Dennis Daugaard's proposal to expand Medicaid and said the state's tribes should be able to bill and collect Medicaid dollars because many of the state's reservations are high-poverty areas.

Daugaard has said he will expand Medicaid, the joint state and federal program that provides health care to needy people, if the federal government agrees to improve health care options for the state's American Indian population. He said the deal must also be budget neutral and have support from the state's Tribes and Legislature.

Frazier also said he hoped legislators would be more mindful of the state's American Indian population when considering new policy.

"I ask that you ask yourself how your proposed laws. Your decisions will impact Indian people in South Dakota when you pass your vote," Frazier said.

Sen. Troy Heinert, D-Mission, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said Frazier's message is important for lawmakers in Pierre.

"I’ve always tried to put that thought at the back of people’s minds when they take a vote," Heinert said. "I think it really helps when you hear it from a real person who lives it every day."

And lawmakers should work to add economic development opportunities on reservations, Frazier said.

"We want economic development, we want jobs on our reservations," Frazier said. "We ask you, the state, to be a partner in economic development."

Chair of the Tribal Economic Development Task Force Rep. Don Haggar, R-Sioux Falls, said it's challenging to bring new jobs to the reservations as unemployment estimates vary widely for the areas.

"We can't really effectively bring business there until we know what's out there and who's available to work," Haggar said.

Frazier also called on the legislators to allow tribal police officers to be trained and certified in state facilities and to improve the state's alcohol and drug treatment programs.

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