A historic settlement agreement between Southcentral Foundation (SCF) and the U.S. Indian Health Service (IHS) will result in a one-time $96 million payment, plus $30 million in interest, to SCF from the federal government. The settlement ends a long-running dispute following SCF’s claims that it had suffered substantial underpayments from the IHS since 1997. SCF first filed a legal claim to recover the costs in 2005, demanding that IHS pay the full amount of contract support costs owed to SCF to date. This settlement resolves all past claims.
“I personally thank President Obama for fulfilling his promise to settle contracts between Alaska Native and American Indian people and the government,” said SCF President and CEO and CIRI shareholder Katherine Gottlieb. “I extend my thanks to Sen. Murkowski, Sen. Begich and Congressman Young for their exhaustive efforts over the years to press the Indian Health Service to expedite the settlement process and to resolve claims on a fair and just basis. “Senators Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Tester (D-Mont.), as well as Congressman Calvert (R-Calif.), need to be recognized for their leadership in keeping a spotlight on these historic wrongs. And I thank IHS Acting Director Roubideaux for the collaborative approach IHS brought to this final settlement process.”
The SCF Board of Directors will be undertaking a planning process to assess how best to use the settlement funds to enhance health care for customer-owners.
If you are a customer-owner and wish to provide feedback about improvements to SCF’s health care system, please call SCF Customer Service at (907) 729-3299.
