'Hardship' for Diné
Medicare drug plans confusing

By Brian Hassler
Staff Writer

SHIPROCK — With U.S. Representative Tom Udall presenting the new Medicare prescription drug benefit program, Navajo's will be faced with the challenge of learning a different system.

"These changes create a hardship for Navajos because of the language barrier," said George Hardeen, of the office for the president and vice president of the Navajo Nation. "Then there's the geographic isolation, the hardship of getting into hospitals and the constant change in procedures. This is a major concern to the Navajo Nation."

The plan that Udall presented to the nearly 80 Shiprock residents in attendance will cost more than the plan offered by Indian Health Services and if Navajo's delay in signing up for the plan, penalties will be added.

"We still have to work with some of the drug plans," said Anselm Roanhorse, executive director for the Navajo Nation Division of Health.

"There's the enrollment into the new plan and there are some things that we have to get our people to understand the new plan and in the end it's their choice. You don't have to sign up but there's some penalties and the longer you wait, you don't get qualified for certain benefits," he said.

Helping those that don't speak English to understand how the plans work and how to access the insurance benefits are other challenges that are there for the elderly on the reservation, said Roanhorse.

"From beginning people were told it was easy to understand and implement, but it isn't," said Roanhorse. "A lot of times people will say 'call the 800 numbers' but our people don't all have phones. Then there's the language barrier and the challenge of explaining the plans and then if you want more information, they tell you to contact the Web site. Some of our people don't have a computer and others don't know how to access that information. Those are the concerns we are bringing to the table."

For Hardeen, recent plans by Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., have attempted to help improve health care on the reservation but a lack of support from the council has limited health care options.

"There's no trauma center on the Navajo Nation," said Hardeen. "We're talking abut a place as big as New England. If someone is really hurt, they have to be airlifted to Albuquerque or Phoenix. For CAT Scans in Tuba City, they use a mobile machine. There was funding for trauma centers in the Capital Improvement Project (CIP)."

"That plan still exists but the council decided it didn't want to entertain the bond issue," added Hardeen. "If the council does not want to entertain bonds, which it apparently doesn't, the president will find other ways."

One of those ways was a request Shirley madewhile in Washington D.C. for $1 billion to help create trauma centers, but until that request is approved, Shirley is forced to rely on a member of the council sponsoring his proposals for funding, the Navajo Nation will have to wait for health care centers.

As for the change from Indian Health Service coverage to Medicare, chapter leaders and Navajo Nation officials will continue to scramble to improve the level of understanding concerning such plans, as they will take on added importance in the coming years.

"As we approach the years when we have to pay for the Iraq war, it will be Native people nationally and Navajos in particular who will bear the largest share of the burden and it comes right out of their health care," said Hardeen. "Medicaid and Medicare are both extremely important to the Navajo Nation."

— Brian Hassler is The Independent's Four Corners reporter based in Shiprock. Contact him at (505) 360-7862 or via email at brianhassler@hotmail.com