Fed up with government-controlled tribal health programs, California Indian tribes are organizing the nation’s first Native American-operated HMO. The plan, conceived by the California Rural Indian Health Board, would cover more than 85,000 California Indians and employees of tribal-owned businesses, according to Pacific News Service (Jan. 20, 2000), and its coverage would be tailored to address diseases, like hypertension and diabetes, that affect Native Americans disproportionately.
