HELENA — The chairman of the Little Shell Chippewa Indians urged the Legislature on Monday to expand Medicaid to increase Native Americans’ access to quality health care.

Gerald Gray, delivering the State of the Tribal Nations address to members of the Senate and House, with top state officials in attendance, talked about the health disparities between Montana’s Indian and non-Indian populations.

“Montana has the highest percentage of uninsured adult American Indians in the nation, with over half of our state’s American Indian population uninsured,” Gray said. “Medicaid expansion would go a long way towards putting a serious dent in Montana’s health disparity statistics and in giving individuals access to basic health care.”

He cited statistics from the state’s 2013 State of the State Health Report.

“The most troubling statistic is one that states that ‘white men in Montana lived 19 years longer than American Indian men, and white men lived 20 years longer than American Indian women,’” Gray said.

“These statistics can simply no longer be ignored. This is an entire generation of people who are leaving our families and our communities too soon. Children are growing up without grandparents, families are losing children and children are losing parents.”

Gray said the heath care provided to tribal members by the Indian Health Services, part of promises made by the federal government when it negotiated treaties with Indian tribes many years ago, is limited and inadequate. Many times Indians are left without access to basic services, preventive care and in many cases without choice in their own health care decisions, he said.

“The revenue received from third parties, such as Medicaid, is absolutely critical to building tribal health programs and delivering quality health care to Indians,” Gray said. “These 100 percent federal pass-through dollars, which have no impact on the state general fund, are important to facilities as they continue to build their local infrastructure.”

The Little Shell tribal chairman urged legislators to expand Medicaid, a call that drew strong applause from Democrats.

“People’s lives literally depend on it,” he said.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency