U.S. Representative Jill Tokuda Links Native Hawaiian Medicaid Exclusion to Broader Attack on Indigenous Status
U.S. Representative Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaiʻi) has characterized the exclusion of Native Hawaiians from Medicaid work requirement exemptions as part of a deliberate and coordinated effort to undermine their Indigenous status. While Native Americans and Alaska Natives are exempt from these work requirements, which are set to begin in January in 43 states and the District of Columbia, Native Hawaiians are not. Hawaii's Medicaid administrator, Meredith Nichols, stated that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) did not respond to the state's request for an exemption for Native Hawaiians, attributing this to their lack of federal recognition as a tribal nation. Approximately 15% of Hawaii's 390,000 Medicaid enrollees identify as Native Hawaiian, and about 53% of the nearly 700,000 Native Hawaiians in the U.S. live on the mainland, primarily in California, Washington, Nevada, Texas, and Oregon. Federal laws recognize Native Hawaiians as an Indigenous group, but they are not among the 575 federally re...
