United Indian Health Services (UIHS) recently reached an important milestone for Native healthcare in California, becoming the first Indian Health Care Program in the state to successfully receive Medi-Cal reimbursement for Traditional Health Care Practices.
For Native communities, however, this moment represents far more than a policy achievement. It reflects growing recognition of the important role traditional healing and cultural connection continue to play in wellness and recovery.
For generations, Indigenous people have turned to traditional healers, cultural teachings, ceremony, natural helpers, and community connection as part of caring for the whole person. Healing has never been viewed as only physical. Emotional, spiritual, mental, and community wellness have always been deeply connected within Native ways of life.
Historically, these healing practices were not recognized within mainstream healthcare reimbursement systems, despite the important role they have continued to play in American Indian/Alaska Native communities.
That began to change following the October 2024 federal approval of California’s Section 1115 CalAIM waiver, which authorized Medicaid coverage for cultural healing services as part of substance use disorder treatment for the first time in California history.
Recently, UIHS successfully received reimbursement under new California Department of Health Care Services regulations, helping open the door for traditional healing services to become part of reimbursable care.
This milestone represents the culmination of decades of advocacy and the resilience of our communities. Recognizing the healing practices of our people as part of comprehensive care affirms what American Indian and Alaska Native communities have always known: culture is healing.
This achievement reflects years of advocacy by Tribal leaders, AI/AN healthcare organizations, traditional practitioners, and community members who worked to ensure traditional ways of healing are respected and included within evolving healthcare systems.
At UIHS, culturally grounded care has long been an important part of the organization’s mission. Traditional healing is not viewed as separate from healthcare, but as an integrated part of a person’s wellness.
For many Native families and communities, access to culturally connected care can help strengthen trust, belonging, identity, and healing. It allows care to reflect the lived experiences, traditions, and strengths of AI/AN people while supporting healthier futures for generations to come.
This milestone also reflects the resilience of AI/AN communities that have continued carrying cultural knowledge and healing traditions forward through generations of change and hardship.
As healthcare systems continue evolving across California and the nation, UIHS remains committed to supporting care that honors Native identity, cultural knowledge, community connection, and the healing traditions that have supported Native people for generations.
While this moment represents an important first in California, it is also part of a larger journey – one centered on honoring the healing ways of our people and ensuring those traditions continue forward for future generations.
UIHS is grateful to the many leaders, advocates, healers, staff members, and community members who helped make this milestone possible and are proud to continue walking forward in this work together.
