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…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Meeting today to discuss health care reform, the Senate Finance Committee defeated an amendment that would have required beneficiaries of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program to show a photo ID in order to enroll, The Washington Independent reports. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., spoke out against the amendment, saying it was “a solution in search of a problem.”From The Washington Independent:
Sen. Charles Grassley (Iowa), the senior Republican on the Finance Committee and sponsor of the proposal, said the new ID requirement is necessary to prevent identity theft.
Democrats disagreed, arguing that it would create an additional barrier preventing the nation’s poorest citizens from accessing care.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) characterized the Grassley proposal as “a solution in search of a problem.” Similar requirements, he said, have kept citizens from getting Medicaid coverage for years, particularly on Indian reservations where the poverty is endemic and ID documents scarce. The fraud in Medicaid is not patient fraud, but provider fraud, added Bingaman, a former attorney general who claimed to have plenty of experience tackling the problem. …
A 2005 law created strict new proof-of citizenship requirements for Medicaid eligibility, forcing potential beneficiaries to produce original-copy citizenship and identification documents. Sponsors said the change was designed to protect taxpayers by preventing illegal aliens from accessing the federal-state program. But Medicaid directors nationwide have said the hurdles have kept many more citizens than illegals from receiving coverage.
The committee vote to kill the Grassley amendment was 1o to 13, strictly along party lines.
