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.
The liberal London daily Morning Star cited New Mexico’s cuts in Medicaid services as a cautionary tale Tuesday for proposed English health system cutbacks, arguing that New Mexico and other states are trying to balance state budgets by slashing medical services for the poor.
“New Mexico is expected to eliminate a number of Medicaid services that are not stipulated by federal law — including dental services, spectacles, emergency hospital services and inpatient psychiatric care,” The Star reported Tuesday. “In the US … the grim consequences are starting to emerge of the cutbacks driven by the recession which has left public-sector budgets drained even as it has made more low-paid and unemployed US citizens dependent on public support.”
New Mexico is not alone in cutting services for its most vulnerable populations, according to an August report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
That study found that 46 states had imposed “cuts that hurt vulnerable residents and the economy” and that state health system cuts have cost 226,000 jobs — and 31 states are implementing cuts that will limit health insurance for low-income children and families, and 29 states have cut support for home care and services for the disabled.
Sacramento, California, has slashed its mental health crisis stabilization unit, cutting in half the number of emergency mental health patients it accommodates, the Center reported. California and Massachusetts have cut funding for HIV/AIDS services.
“The list goes on — state after state has been picking off the elderly, chronic sick, children, the disabled and people with mental health problems or learning disabilities as soft targets for cuts,” The Star opined.
