Valadao Works to Improve Healthcare for Native American Communities

Press Release

This week, Congressman David G. Valadao (CA-21) introduced legislation to ensure the healthcare needs of Native American families are adequately met. H.R. 3391, the Indian Health Service Health Professions Tax Fairness Act, would improve healthcare for Native American communities by empowering the Indian Health Service (IHS) to recruit additional healthcare professionals to their facilities.

American Indians and Alaska Natives currently have a life expectancy 4.1 years shorter than the average American population and are 1.4 times more likely to die from common ailments such as pneumonia or the flu or even from routine procedures such as child birth. While American Indian and Alaska Native communities continue to battle these significant health disparities, IHS is forced to spend nearly 30% of its Health Professions Account to pay taxes to the federal government instead of investing those dollars into community health professionals.

"According to the IHS, there are more than 10 IHS facilities located in and around my Congressional District that are in serious need of additional health professionals in order to adequately meet the needs of the community. My legislation will help recruit additional health professionals to serve at these facilities, and others, which provide critical healthcare services for families in the 21st Congressional District and across the entire country," Congressman Valadao stated.

The legislation introduced by Congressman Valadao would amend the tax code to provide fairness for healthcare professionals who receive awards from the Indian Health Service (IHS) Health Professions programs by exempting those awards from federal income tax. This same tax exempt status is currently provided for health professionals participating in similar National Health Service Corps (NHSC) programs.

H.R. 3391, the Indian Health Service Health Professions Tax Fairness Act of 2013, was introduced in the United States House of Representatives by Congressman David G. Valadao on Wednesday, October 30, 2013. Currently, 16 Members from both sides of the aisle have cosponsored the legislation, which is supported by the National Congress of American Indians, the National Council of Urban Indian Health, the National Indian Health Board, and the American Dental Association.

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