Starting May 1, urban Indians in Billings, Montana, will have to travel 60 miles to the Crow Reservation to get their prescriptions filled.

Urban Indians have been able to obtain their prescriptions through a free courier service that goes between the Indian Health Board in Billings and the Crow-Northern Cheyenne Hospital on the reservation. About 100 to 150 prescriptions are filled every week.

But the Indian Health Service said the practice has to stop due to "budget constraints and increasing demand" for services. Patients will have to see a provider at the reservation hospital in order to receive their medications.

Urban Indians say the new policy is unfair. About one-third of Crow tribal members and about one-fourth of Northern Cheyennes live in Billings.

"The treaties did not say we're only going to give health care to reservation Indians, because we didn't have reservation Indians in those days," Marjorie Bear Don't Walk, the executive director of the Billings clinic said.

Get the Story:
Changes could limit Indian health care (The Billings Gazette 4/15)

Relevant Documents:
Letter to Indian Health Board | Info for Pharmacy Patients

Relevant Links:
National Council of Urban Indian Health - http://www.ncuih.org
Indian Health Service - http://www.ihs.gov

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