HAWAII — Utah-based advocacy group Do No Harm sued the federal government in March seeking to have the Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship Program declared unconstitutional and its scholarships opened to applicants of all races. The complaint stated that three members of Do No Harm were told they could not apply for the scholarship because they are not Native Hawaiians.

Congress established the program in 1988 under the Native Hawaiian Health Care Act. It provides scholarships to Native Hawaiian medical students in exchange for working in underserved areas in Hawaii after graduation, and was modeled after the National Health Service Corps. A report leading to the act found that Native Hawaiians lacked accessible healthcare and had higher rates of morbidity, mortality, and chronic disease.

Over the past 35 years, the program has helped 324 people receive education, including 108 nurses, 71 doctors, 49 social workers, and others in psychology, dentistry, pharmacy, and therapy. Papa Ola Lōkahi, which administers the program, said most recipients remain in medically underserved communities beyond their obligated service tenures and often rise to leadership positions.

"Patients of all races and ethnicities want one thing, and that is a great doctor who can help them feel better." Kristina Rasmussen, executive director of Do No Harm, said. "Great doctors are not defined by their skin color or background. Native Hawaiians, along with every other American, should have equal access to federal programs that should be squarely centered on merit."

Stanley Goldfarb, chair of Do No Harm, said the group's complaint was aimed at opening competition for the scholarship. "Our complaint challenging the Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship Program is aimed at ensuring well-deserving applicants can qualify to compete for the financial relief the scholarship provides," he said. "That this program still exists even after the efforts by this administration to course correct proves just how widespread institutional race discrimination has become."

Dr. Daniel Garcia, an internist and medical director at the Maui Medical Group, received the scholarship in 1991, when he was living in a garage and cleaning yards to afford medical school. He has remained at the Maui Medical Group since beginning his service in 2000. "The scholarship was extremely beneficial because it allowed me to focus on my studies," Garcia said. "As part of the repayment for the Native Hawaiian scholarship, I was placed in Maui, that's where my family is from, and I wanted to make sure that I came back to my community to help the Hawaiians there. It's very much an underserved population."

Garcia said his patients' trust in their physician was a factor in their willingness to seek care. "They didn't really trust western medicine, they didn't trust the other physicians that didn't look like them," he said. "Native Hawaiians are a very prideful people, and if there's a tone of condescension or arrogance, they just won't go."

The lawsuit is one of several filed by conservative advocacy groups across the United States challenging programs that support minority groups following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 decision ending race-conscious admissions in higher education. In 2024, nearly 12% of Native Hawaiians had no health insurance compared with 8% of the total U.S. population, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. A University of Hawaii study found Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders have lower life expectancy compared with other ethnic groups in Hawaii.