Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-South Dakota) said critics of efforts to reform health care in the U.S. are wrong to bring up the Indian Health Service.

Herseth Sandlin said the IHS, which is a government agency that provides services, can't be compared to public health insurance, an idea that is part of the reform debate.

“We’re talking about an insurance option not the government setting up the equivalent of IHS clinics across the country and not funding them properly, like IHS over the last eight-plus years," Herseth Sandlin told The Rapid City Journal. “So we’re talking apples and oranges.”

“That irritates me,” she said of criticism of the IHS.

South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds and former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich have called the IHS a "disaster" in criticizing the public health insurance option.

Get the Story:
Herseth Sandlin: Health-care reform foes wrong in using IHS analogy (The Rapid City Journal 8/26)

Related Stories:
Interview with IHS leader Yvette Roubideaux (8/24)
White House official blasts IHS 'scare tactics' (8/19)
South Dakota tribes defend IHS from critic (8/17)
South Dakota governor calls IHS a 'disaster' (8/10)
Interview with IHS director Yvette Roubideaux (7/31)
IHS officer says agency funded at half the need (07/22)
Yvette Roubideaux: Reform Indian health care (7/20)
Opinion: A terrible precedent in Indian health (7/20)
Dorgan seeks views on Indian health care reform (07/10)
Letter: Reform IHS before taking on US health care (07/01)
Video: Dr. Roubideaux speech at swearing-in (6/30)
Opinion: The health care crisis in Indian Country (6/30)
Swearing-in ceremony for IHS head Roubideaux (6/29)
Editorial: IHS gets some long-overdue attention (6/26)
Tribes unsure of IHS stake in national reform talks (6/26)
House Resources Committee hearing on IHCIA (6/25)
Editorial: Get started on Indian health care (6/22)
Roubideaux won't call IHS a 'historic failure' (6/18)
Tribes want action, not words, on health care (6/17)
HHS Secretary promises Indian health focus (6/16)
Indian Country still waiting for better health care (6/15)