detail Ellis Wild
February 14, 2025
India's health services face loss of 2,500 employees in new federal layoffs, with an initial estimate of nearly triple warning top executives of native health organizations nationwide. The cuts will further strain the institutions responsible for providing health care to 2.5 million American Indians and Alaska Native Americans.
AC Locklear, interim CEO of the National Indian Health Board (NIHB), told Native News that layoffs threaten healthcare delivery across India's country.
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The cuts are part of a broader Trump administration order issued this week through the Federal Government's Human Resources Department, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which ordered the end of probationary federal workers. The directive will affect several institutions serving tribal countries, including the Indian Affairs Bureau and the Indian Education Bureau, as part of the federal government's trust and treaty obligations.
The total number of federal workers in the affected probationary officers remains unknown, but OPM data shows that as of March 2024, roughly 220,000 federal employees had been working in less than a year. It shows that it was.
The termination of probation employees began earlier this week. On Wednesday, Native News Online reported immediate terminations of 1,000 workers from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Native Americans serve in the military at a higher speed than any other race. According to the VA, nearly 66,000 native veterans use the benefits or services of at least one VA, including healthcare.
In letters to the deputy directors of OPM Charles Ezell, the NIHB, the National Council of Urban Indian Health, the National Indian Child Welfare Association, and more than 12 other organizations, fostering the efficiency of the government, led by technology billionaire Elon Musk; They urged employees to be exempt. A person essential to fulfill the trust and treaty obligations that the United States has with its tribal countries. The characters are partially read:
The United States fulfills its trust and treaty obligations both through direct provision of tribal programs and services, and through federal funding to tribal states and tribal organizations that serve tribal states. Important services provided by federal employees include public safety through IHS, law enforcement agencies, BIA, and educational services through BIE. These programs are not discretionary. They are legal obligations rooted in treaties, obligations of trust, the US Constitution, and years of federal law.
The IHS cut is likely to be deeper than the 850 employees initially expected, Locklear said. He detailed that between 14% and 18% of current IHS employees are probation workers who may face layoffs. The tribal budgeting workgroup puts more strain on historically underfunded federal agencies operating at $8.2 billion, well below the $52 billion needed to provide adequate healthcare.
IHS currently has a vacancy rate of 30% for positions ranging from doctors and nurses to detainees and IT staff. These existing shortages “if those (probation) employees are fired, it can have a huge impact.”
Locklear said past federal government closures had a serious impact on IHS operations.
“When we were experiencing government closures, clinics were closed, significantly reducing services and limiting or eliminating critical access to care, resulting in many death rates in our community. “I did,” he said.
This is a developing story.
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Senior Health Editor
Elyse Wild is a senior health editor at Native News Online and leads coverage of health stock issues such as mental health, environmental health, maternal mortality rates and the overdose crisis in India. Her award-winning journalism has appeared in the Guardian, McClatchy newspapers, and NPR affiliates. In 2024, she was awarded the first Excellence Recovery Journalism Award for reporting focused on addiction and recovery solutions in the native community. She is currently working on a Pulitzer Center-funded series exploring cultural approaches to addiction treatment.
