I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
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Sen. Carlos Cisneros, Rep. Bobby Gonzalez, and Rep. Eleanor Chavez introduce the Health Security Act.
SANTA FE — The Health Security Act received strong endorsements from its sponsors at a press conference at the Roundhouse on Tuesday.
Adoption of the act would trigger a three-year process for implementing a comprehensive plan that would provide everyone in New Mexico health care coverage. The act does this by creating a statewide cooperative that would be financed by combining tax dollars already spent on health care, like Medicaid, with premiums from individuals plus employer contributions.
The outcome would be a significant reduction in administrative costs, leading to greater affordability and significant cost savings to the state, primarily because everyone in the state would have coverage.
A 2007 study by Mathematica Policy Research, which was commissioned by the state, compared the Health Security Act to other health care proposals and found it was the only one that almost immediately would significantly reduce costs to the state.
Rep. Bobby Gonzalez, D-Taos, who is sponsoring the Act in the House, said it’s clearly the best plan for reducing costs while ensuring that everyone in the state has health coverage.
And the Senate sponsor, Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa, made the point several times that the Health Security Act was the only comprehensive approach to solving the state’s health care problem.
“This year, the governor and others have introduced several different measures, but these amount to a piecemeal approach,” Cisneros said. “We have a multitude of people who can’t afford coverage, while others have very high insurance costs. Passing the Health Security Act is the most important thing we could do right now. We need to trigger the process — get it into motion so that we can implement it three years down the road.”
Cisneros reiterated that while there is an upfront cost of approximately $500,000 to develop the plan, it would be worth it considering the cost savings to the state in the long run. Gonzalez also made that point, adding that the bill has a sunset provision if the first-year development of a financing plan isn’t approved by the Legislature and the governor.
The press conference at the Roundhouse was standing room only.
“The way it’s structured gives us plenty of time to change our minds,” Gonzalez said. “The Legislative Finance Committee figures out the financing in the first year and then makes a recommendation to the Legislature and the governor. They have to then sign off on it again. While the budget is tight, the initial $500,000 to develop the plan is pretty minimal considering the savings the implementation of the act will bring to the state.”
The two sponsors were joined by incoming freshman Rep. Eleanor Chavez, D-Albuquerque. Chavez was the Chair of the Health Security for New Mexicans campaign for many years and is a strong advocate for the Health Security Act.
“We have a real problem,” Chavez said. “So many are uninsured — they wait until they’re so sick they have to go to the emergency room, and those are always packed. And when they leave the emergency room, they have no options for follow-up care.”
Chavez said that the passage of the Health Security Act would make New Mexico a model for other states. “Health care has a huge impact on our budget,” she said. “We have to choose between education and health care. With the Health Security Act we can do both, though, because of the cost savings to the state.”
When asked for a response to insurance industry criticisms of the bill, Cisneros replied that the insurance industry will put in a lot of money to defeat the bill and that for this reason people in New Mexico need to call their legislators. The insurance industry would be largely sidelined by the act. They would be able to develop insurance much like the policies that complement Medicare now, which advocates of the act point out is highly lucrative.
“What matters is what the people of New Mexico think,” Cisneros said, “not what the insurance industry thinks. This is the best comprehensive insurance plan that exists today. The Mathematica study showed that.”
The bill is currently assigned to the House Business & Industry Committee (HB 339) and the Senate Public Affairs Committee (SB 281). You can track its progress on the New Mexico Legislature Web site.
