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.
State officials say the national health care reform legislation signed today by President Obama could provide coverage for thousands of New Mexicans.
Nationally, the bill will provide health insurance coverage to 32 million people, out of approximately 46.3 million currently uninsured, which is about 15.4 percent of the population. In New Mexico, about 25 percent of the population is uninsured.
“It’s going to be a huge boon for the state,” New Mexico Human Services Department Secretary Katie Falls told The Independent in an interview. “The high number of uninsured is a huge cost for the state.”
Falls explained that the high number of uninsured New Mexicans drives up costly visits to emergency rooms, and also impacts the ability of people to hold down jobs due to untreated illnesses.
New Mexico’s Medicaid program already covers all children in the state who are under 235 percent of the federal poverty limit. There are about 480,000 people enrolled in Medicaid programs in New Mexico. The state’s coverage insurance (SCI) program insures an additional 54,000 people. More than 300,000 of the participants in those programs are children. Adults who are too young for Medicare can qualify for Medicaid programs in some cases, including if they are parents of young children.
But about 465,000 New Mexicans are without health care coverage. It’s those New Mexicans who will be most affected by the bill, as it mandates that they obtain coverage, either through purchasing it or through the Medicaid program. The federal reform bill expands the Medicaid program to cover for the first time all adults who fall under 133 percent of the federal poverty line.
A conservative estimate of the number of adults in the state who will now become eligible for Medicaid is 100,000, said Katie Falls, secretary of the New Mexico Human Services Department. About 85,000 fall under the poverty line now, and they estimate another 15,000 fall under 133 percent of the poverty line. But there may be many more who fall under 133 percent, she said.
The state has the option to expand its Medicaid program before 2014, but the federal payments for the new enrollees won’t begin until that year. In 2014, the federal government will pay 100 percent of the cost of new Medicaid enrollees. That declines to 95 percent in 2018 and 2019, and to 90 percent after that. Currently, the federal government pays 75 percent of the cost of Medicaid, sending the state 75 cents for every 25 cents spent by the state.
For those who don’t qualify for Medicaid, there will be federal subsidies to help them purchase insurance. Families and individuals who make up to 400 percent of the federal poverty line will receive the subsidies on a sliding scale.
That upper limit for subsidies is $43,344 for an individual and $73,248 for a family of three, said Falls.
“People with moderate incomes will get significant help in purchasing insurance,” she said.
With the mandate to purchase coverage, the national legislation calls for a variety of measures to ensure that affordable coverage is available. There’s a mandate for large companies (those that employ over 50 fulltime workers) to provide coverage or pay a fine per employee who is subsidized by the state when purchasing individual insurance.
There are also a variety of insurance regulatory reforms that Falls says are “big ticket items.” Companies will be required to spend 85 percent of premiums on direct health care services, and there are a variety of rules and regulations governing insurance rates.
“Companies will only be allowed to consider your age, your geographic location, and tobacco use,” Falls explained. “They can’t use your health status, if you have a pre-existing condition, or if you go to the doctor a lot, or are a woman. These sorts of rules should significantly lower the cost of premiums by spreading the risk.”
Falls said the state has a lot to do in the coming years to implement the reforms. The first priority is to determine how to construct a new health care exchange through which individuals can shop for insurance. The exchanges are mandated by the bill, and can be constructed as either state-run entities or as non-profits.
“Right away [we need to create] the health care exchange,” Falls said. “The state has to create a mechanism for individuals who don’t have coverage to go to this exchange and determine what their options are. The mandate calls for the exchange to be ready by 2014. We will have to make a decision about whether to create our own within state government or to create a nonprofit.”
“We definitely need to get ready,” she said. “Our only anxiety is that we need to get busy. We’re looking forward to the opportunity to implement the bill but we have a lot of work.”
