University of Oklahoma Researchers Offer a Bold Fix for Native American Health Inequities in Oklahoma City

At the University of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, a team of public health researchers is drawing national attention with an innovative policy proposal that could transform health care for Indigenous communities — a cause that resonates with South Asian Americans who know firsthand what health disparities and systemic underfunding look like.

🏥 OU Team Proposes IHS Trust Fund to Close a Decades-Long Health Care Gap

Researchers at the OU Hudson College of Public Health have published a study in Health Affairs proposing the creation of an Indian Health Service Trust Fund to address years of chronic underfunding that has harmed Indigenous health outcomes across the country. Lead author Junying Zhao, an assistant professor at OU, points out that Indigenous people in the U.S. have a life expectancy of 67.9 years — roughly a decade below the national average — and that IHS per capita federal spending in fiscal year 2021 stood at just $4,140, far below what is spent on Medicare, Medicaid, the VA, or even the Bureau of Prisons. The proposed trust fund would be modeled on the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund, using an initial principal investment and ongoing excise tax collections to generate sustainable returns. Between fiscal years 2009 and 2020, IHS was underfunded by approximately $60 million annually, and the researchers estimate that a baseline principal of around $600 million would be needed to generate enough returns to close that gap. Oklahoma's own history as former Indian Territory makes this research especially significant for the state. [4]

Sources: [4] The University of Oklahoma