In their latest documentary in the Circle of Life Series, Cherokee award-winning filmmakers Steven Heape and Chip Ritchie uncover the story of Indian healthcare and the Indian Health Service, told from the Native American prospective.

Narrated by actor Peter Coyote and featuring: Ben Night Horse Campbell, Tim Giago, President Theresa Two Bulls and Principal Chief Chad Smith. "Don't Get Sick After June: American Indian Healthcare” is a one hour, Hi Definition feature-length film that chronicles the history of Indian healthcare from the early 1800’s to President Obama’s recent Healthcare Reform Act signed into law in 2010.

It’s not a healthy picture. The Indian Health Service (IHS) is a shameful example of how patients suffer when their care is relegated to a government bureaucracy that doles out care in small measures. IHS, in fact, characterizes the service it provides as a "rationed health care system." As many in Congress continue to push for a public option run by the government, people need to familiarize themselves with the tragic story of IHS.

Drastic changes in lifestyle, from hunter-gatherer-farmers to sedentary fast food and ration eaters, American Indians experience far worse health outcomes than the rest of the nation. The numbers are staggering: Americans Indians have a 40 percent higher infant mortality rate, are twice as likely to die from diabetes, 60 percent more likely to suffer a stroke, and 20 percent more likely to have heart disease.

American Indians born today can expect to live 5 less years on average than the average American. The IHS is as much as 55% underfunded, leaving clinics to open one week a month on skeleton staffs. The funding gives them just enough to survive but not thrive. This is not a welfare service, the IHS is a pre-paid service supposedly guaranteed to the Indian population by the government in exchange for their land and resources.

The film also touches on how women were involuntarily sterilized by the thousands in the early 1970s to reduce native populations. Boarding school abuse has been passed on from generation to generation.

But in the midst of all the darkness, tribes that have the advantage of casino money, such as the Cherokee, have invested in their own healthcare systems. Principal Chief Chad Smith says that he sees the future healthcare picture will improve when tribal people hang onto the old ways but also integrate technology. It takes a community and a family to keep a population healthy and learning.