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Health reforms penalize some Indians

Many Native Americans will have to buy their own health insurance or pay a $695 fine unless they can prove they are "Indian enough" to claim one of the few exemptions allowed under the PPACA.

By Garance Burke | Updated on May 15, 2013
Molin Malicay, director of the Sonoma County Indian Health Project in Santa Rosa, Calif., says there's much confusion in PPACA "pamphlets and videos about who is Indian." (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

SAN FRANCISCO — When Liz DeRouen needs any kind of health care services, from diabetes counseling to a dental cleaning, she checks into a government-funded clinic in Northern California’s wine country that covers all her medical needs.

Her care and the medical services for her children and grandchildren are paid for as part of the government’s treaty obligations to American Indian tribes dating back nearly a century. But under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, DeRouen and tens of thousands of others who identify as Native American will face a new reality.

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