The Lumbee Tribe of N.C. wants better healthcare, but plans to fund it are in limbo

Health The Lumbee Tribe of N.C. wants better healthcare, but plans to fund it are in limbo July 30, 20265:00 AM ET From By  Andrew Jones Angie Lowery grows squash, onions, potatoes, and other produce in her backyard garden in Robeson County, North Carolina. She's tried to improve her health to be able to be there for her grandchildren. Andrew Jones/KFF Health News hide caption toggle caption Andrew Jones/KFF Health News For stories of life in our changing world, subscribe here to the global health newsletter. LUMBERTON, N.C. — Soybean fields surround Angie Lowery's home on a plot of rural land in southeastern North Carolina's Robeson County. Dozens of antique gas station signs, 20 feet tall, dominate her front yard. A framed re-creation of The Last Supper, Lone Ranger posters, and a 3-foot-wide tobacco harvesting basket adorn the walls of her home. A collector, Lowery over the years has amassed remnants of her region's past. But behind the house, the 44-year-old's backyard garden showcases her goals for the future, one that involves a long, healthy life with her kids: collard greens, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, red and white potatoes, kale. Angie Lowery's front yard in rural southeastern North Carolina hosts a small forest of antique gas station signs. Andrew Jones/KFF Health News hide caption toggle caption Andrew Jones/KFF Health News Like Lowery, many in the small towns of Lumberton and nearby Pembroke are citizens of the Lumbee Tribe who have dealt with heart conditions. The mother of four struggled with obesity and had to take insulin pills and shots daily. But when her first grandchild was born, in 2024, Lowery imagined her own life ending the way her biological father's did: Daily insulin shots for diabetes. Kidney dialysis treatments at home. Dead of a heart attack at 63. She wanted her grandkids to remember her. Sponsor Message Here & Now Anytime Native Americans say they're being swept up by ICE "If I don't get this weight off me, if I don't c...