Diabetes program funding 22 Alaska tribal health groups faces a Dec. 31 deadline

The Indian Health Service on Oct. 15 added about $233,000 to its order with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium to support the Special Diabetes Program for Indians in Alaska, a federal program whose authorization runs out at the end of the year.

Congress created the program in 1997 to pay for diabetes prevention and treatment in tribal, IHS and urban Indian health programs. This year it funds 310 programs nationwide, including 22 Alaska tribal health organizations sharing about $10.5 million, according to the IHS 2026 grant list.

The grants range from about $1.9 million each for Southcentral Foundation in Anchorage and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation in Bethel to $25,000 each for the Native Village of Eyak in Cordova and the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe. Norton Sound Health Corporation, Maniilaq Association, Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation, Tanana Chiefs Conference and the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium each receive between about $730,000 and $1 million.

The consortium's order, which wasn't competed, is for technical assistance to those programs across the Alaska area, according to federal spending records. Since November 2021, IHS has added $465,701 to it about once a year. This month's addition was $232,851, about half that. The total committed now stands at about $2.56 million, of which about $1.87 million has been paid out, and the order runs through April 19, 2027.

The program itself is funded only through Dec. 31. Congress funded it at $200 million for fiscal 2026, up $41 million, then added $50 million to cover the first three months of fiscal 2027, according to an IHS letter to tribes in May. Without reauthorization, it "will lose all funding authority on January 1, 2027," the National Council of Urban Indian Health said. A Senate bill from Sens. Susan Collins and Jeanne Shaheen and a House companion would renew it.

At a June 17 Senate health committee meeting, Collins called the program "absolutely essential" for people with type 1 diabetes and for Native Americans and Alaska Natives.

Diagnosed diabetes among Alaska Native people rose 21% from 2009 to 2019, from 5.2% to 6.3%, according to the consortium's health status report. Rates ranged from 3.7% in the Norton Sound Service Unit to 11% in the Annette Island Service Unit.

Nationally, the rate of kidney failure caused by diabetes among American Indian and Alaska Native people fell 54% from 1999 to 2013, according to CDC figures cited by the National Indian Health Board, which advocates for the program.