A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION, Urging an external audit of the Indian Health Service by the United States Government Accountability Office.

    WHEREAS, the United States has pledged to protect Native American Tribes through an obligation to deliver adequate health care to all enrolled tribal members including those tribal members on and off the reservations located in South Dakota; and

    WHEREAS, the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie provided that the United States would provide certain benefits to Native Americans including medical services; and

    WHEREAS, the medical services obligations of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie have never expired; and

    WHEREAS, it has been demanded for decades that the health care services provided to Native Americans be improved through better administration, improved facilities, and improved quality of patient care; and

    WHEREAS, despite the demands for improvement, the Indian Health Service has continued to decline, and has received citations by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services for substandard healthcare and some hospitals have had their Medicare provider agreements

revoked or suspended; and

    WHEREAS, as a result of the poor quality of care, Native Americans of the Great Plains Region suffer from the highest diabetes death rates, the highest tuberculosis death rates, and higher incidences of other diseases than mainstream America, and the Great Plains Region has the lowest life expectancy and second highest mortality rate among all Indian Health Service regions in the United States:

    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the Ninety-Second Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that Congress demand the United States Governmental Accountability Office conduct an external audit of the Indian Health Service; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that any audit include any third-party funding that is received from other federal agencies to supplement Indian Health Service funding, and that the audit be completed by October 1, 2017.