OLYMPIA, WA – Washington state’s Tribal Foundational Public Health Service is the first dedicated funding for tribes to advance public health initiatives.
In Gov. Bob Ferguson’s proposed budget, it faces the risk of losing crucial funding.
Jessica McKee, Tribal Foundational Public Health Service coordinator for the American Indian Health Commission, said after the state increased funding for the service in the last biennium to $200,000 per year per tribe, some tribes were able to create their first dedicated public health position. She stressed cuts to the service would be a blow.
“If there’s a reduction and the steering committee decides that some of that money has to come back from the tribes, they might not be able to maintain their public health person anymore,” McKee pointed out. “That’s a big deal. ”
McKee said the service funds foundational aspects of public health, such as tracking maternal and child health, environmental health and communicable disease surveillance.
With a recently confirmed measles case in King County, McKee is concerned potential loss of funding for the service, coupled with the Trump administration’s policies on immunizations, could create a significant public health challenge.
“If those funding streams are to be cut on top of people being vaccine hesitant, we could have a perfect storm of MMR breakouts all over the place,” McKee explained.
Mckee noted a strength of the service is the funding is flexible and each tribe chooses its own public health priorities. Some tribes may be able to expand existing efforts such as training clinic staff in infection prevention. Others may use new resources to hire public health staff to write health codes.
“It is one of the opportunities for funding that really feels like it’s honoring tribal sovereignty,” McKee observed. “That’s not always the case with funding.”
“Cuts looming for WA tribal public-health funding” was originally published by the Washington News Service on March 6, 2025. Read the full article at Washington News Service.
