Catastrophic Health Emergency Fund

There is established an Indian Catastrophic Health Emergency Fund (hereafter in this section referred to as the “CHEF”) consisting of— CHEF shall be administered by the Secretary, acting through the headquarters of the Service, solely for the purpose of meeting the extraordinary medical costs associated with the treatment of victims of disasters or catastrophic illnesses who are within the responsibility of the Service. No part of CHEF or its administration shall be subject to contract or grant under any law, including the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450 et seq.),11 See References in Text note below. nor shall CHEF funds be allocated, apportioned, or delegated on an Area Office, Service Unit, or other similar basis. The Secretary shall promulgate regulations consistent with the provisions of this section to— provide that a Service Unit shall not be eligible for reimbursement for the cost of treatment from CHEF until its cost of treating any victim of such catastrophic illness or disaster has reached a certain threshold cost which the Secretary shall establish at— establish a procedure for the reimbursement of the portion of the costs that exceeds such threshold cost incurred by— Amounts appropriated to CHEF under this section shall not be used to offset or limit appropriations made to the Service under the authority of section 13 of this title, or any other law. There shall be deposited into CHEF all reimbursements to which the Service is entitled from any Federal, State, local, or private source (including third party insurance) by reason of treatment rendered to any victim of a disaster or catastrophic illness the cost of which was paid from CHEF.