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.
New Mexico Senators criticized vetoes made today by Gov. Susana Martinez. Sens. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, and George Munoz, D-Gallup, said a veto of a bill to create a health insurance exchange may mean more federal control of the insurance marketplace in New Mexico, while Alburquerque Sen. Tim Keller criticized Martinez for vetoing transparency and accountability measures.
New Mexico is getting a federal grant to help beef up consumer protection efforts. The money will be used to help consumers file complaints and to appeal insurance company decisions, track and analyze trends in those complaints, and to fund a full-time staff position to assist consumers who are seeking health insurance coverage,
The state Division of Insurance, and the Public Regulation Commission (PRC), will seek legislation this coming session that would grant new, strengthened regulatory powers to vet premium rate hike requests from health insurers. If passed, the new powers would allow the insurance agency to consider an insurer’s investment income, surplus and cost containment and an insurer’s overall profitability rather than just the profitability of a particular line of insurance.
American Cement officials and the Greater Gardner Neighborhood Association met Tuesday night to create a community advisory panel (CAP) to foster communication between the company and neighbors of its cement transfer facility in Albuquerque’s North Valley. The group is to be the first of three in New Mexico and at least five nationwide, company officials said. Some residents expressed optimism that they will now directly engage the company, rather than relying on the City of Albuquerque Air Quality Division to address their community’s needs.
Health insurers contributed nearly $428,000 to New Mexico elected officials from 2004 to 2008, according to campaign finance data analyzed by The Independent. The data show the companies, an industry association and political action committees spread the campaign contributions around, giving to several state office holders and nearly every state lawmaker in the Legislature. The role of health insurers in policy-making decisions is coming under additional scrutiny at a time when a battle is brewing in time for the 2011 legislative session. Lawmakers and health insurers likely will face off over the question whether policy makers should re-write state laws to strengthen how New Mexico vets health insurers’ requests to raise premium rates.
Later this year New Mexico will start a public website to display the number of infections patients contracted at several medical facilities around the state. The website won’t break down the infection rate by facility. That comes in July 2011, when the state of New Mexico will start reporting infection rates by facility, meaning the public could compare how careful — or careless — hospitals and medical centers are in preventing — or allowing — sometime deadly infections. The catch: hospitals won’t have to share the data if they don’t want to on certain infections.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield health insurance plans across the U.S. have raised policyholders’ rates while accumulating billions of dollars in surpluses – much more than necessary to protect the companies, according to a Consumers Union study released Thursday.
New Mexico is $160 million in the hole three weeks into the new fiscal year, state officials learned Wednesday.
And that hole could double in size if Congress fails to send extra stimulus dollars New Mexico’s way to help pay for Medicaid, the government’s low-income health insurance program.
It’s not exactly the kind of political climate gubernatorial candidates would prefer.
“The next governor is going to have her hands full,” Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said Wednesday, confirming the challenges ahead for the next occupant of the governor’s mansion.
The two women running to become New Mexico’s next chief executive responded Wednesday to news of the worsening financial news with plans on how to address the problem that varied in degrees of specificity. But not before taking swipes at each other.
“While my opponent has put forward thin one-liners and platitudes, my plan tells New Mexicans exactly how I propose to cover the budget gap,” Democratic Lt. Gov. Diane Denish said in a statement.
Republican District Attorney Susana Martinez shot back: “Diane Denish’s scheme is just more of the same Enron accounting that created this budget mess.”
Both candidates pledge to cut political appointees
Three and a half months before Election Day, Denish’s and Martinez’s plans to address the state’s budget woes reflected a mixture of gritty realism and pie-in-the-sky election-year promise-making at a time when New Mexico finds itself foundering financially.
Martinez, whose campaign sent out a 364-word statement, promised to implement zero-growth budgets at most state agencies and rid state government of waste and fraud. She said she could find 5 percent to cut, but didn’t go into too much detail about how to accomplish that goal.
Denish, whose campaign sent out a six-page report issued earlier this year, touted a voluntary one-time buy-out she would offer to state government workers and a thorough review of tax credits to make sure they create jobs. If they don’t, Denish would push to have them eliminated. What she didn’t mention is that such a review likely would take months, and wouldn’t save money this year.
Reducing the state’s vehicle fleet by 10 percent and merging several state agencies, thereby eliminating several cabinet-level positions and salaries, were other ideas Denish offered while Martinez talked of shrinking the state’s payroll through attrition.
While the two candidates played up their differences, there were similarities. Both promised to eliminate the hundreds of jobs across state government held by political appointees – a measure expected to save $8.8 million a year.
Both in the past also have mentioned reforming how the state doles out money for brick-and-mortar projects, also known as pork, an often-touted goal that somehow never found enough support among state lawmakers to become a reality during the past 7 1/2 years.
Everything is on the table—including education
Both gubernatorial candidates made clear Wednesday that while they were ready to cut expenses while eschewing major tax increases, they were prepared to protect the most basic services, including education.
It’s a scenario some lawmakers have questioned: keeping K-12 education untouched in future budget cutting. Education has suffered cuts in the past, but K-12 education is a big target, representing roughly half of the state budget.
“We can’t hit agencies” like the state transportation department any more, Sen. Steven Neville, R-Aztec, said Wednesday. “We might have to talk about wholesale elimination of functions. We may have to say we can’t provide XYZ anymore. Or the big taboo – education. We are going to have to re-look at education – at administration and overhead.”
Agreed Smith: “Everything on the spending side is on the table, including education.”
Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, however, said she was hard-pressed Wednesday to name where the state could cut in education.
“All I can tell you is I just finished talking to a … school nurse,” Feldman said. “People (at Albuquerque Public Schools) are really worried about what will happen this school year. We have a school principal covering two schools. School nurses who are covering more and more kids.”
Feldman also wondered if the state’s health system could take any more hits.
Funding for 33 county and community health councils and five Tribal Health Councils around the state already has been slashed this year because of the state’s budget troubles. The councils coordinate different agencies, organizations, in a community or county, that are addressing health needs at the local level, advocates have said.
“Doing away with these planning councils … it’s like your plane is about to crash and you are ripping out your control system,” Feldman said. “If we are looking to make a safe landing … we cannot afford to keep cutting those vital programs.”
No first-year governor will want to sign tax increases
“We have to look at what the situation is during the regular session,” Feldman said.
Smith ruled out a major tax increase as impractical, saying a first-year governor wouldn’t want to sign off on a tax increase to start off her tenure, he said. Smith acknowledged, however, that lawmakers would discuss – and likely would be open to– closing certain tax credits, deductions or exemptions.
Wednesday’s news wasn’t a surprise to him, Smith said. He and other senators had predicted that the Richardson administration’s projection that revenues would grow by 6 percent was overly optimistic. In the end revenues have grown by about 3 percent.
He also said the news could get worse.
New Mexico is one of 21 states without a contingency plan if Congress doesn’t pass legislation approving extra Medicaid dollars to shore up state spending plans.
Congress is currently debating whether to extend extra federal dollars for the government’s low-income health insurance program through June 30, 2011, six months beyond the current deadline of Dec. 31. If the extra dollars don’t come, however, New Mexico will be stuck with a $160 million hole in the state budget, meaning the current $160 million hole could double in size. That’s because this year’s state budget assumed the extra Medicaid dollars from the federal government.
Governor has authority to cut now
Martinez and Denish might have one saving grace. This year’s state budget gives Gov. Bill Richardson the ability to cut monthly allotments to agencies across state government, meaning some of the hard work of balancing this year’s budget actually might occur before the next governor takes office.
“Agencies have been preparing for a potential shortfall and, as a precautionary measure, were instructed to reduce spending by as much as 5 percent at the start of this fiscal year,” said Nicole Gillepsie, spokeswoman for the Department of Finance and Administration, the governor’s budget arm. “Agencies are hard at work finding ways to achieve maximum efficiency with the aim of avoiding reductions to services or additional cuts focused on state employees.”
Gillepsie also said the governor is “working to develop a plan for reducing agency budgets, and will present the plan for Legislative Finance Committee review and Board of Finance approval.”
Smith said he doesn’t hold out much hope that much cutting will occur before the next governor takes over.
“I don’t think this governor is going to move quickly enough,” Smith said.
The governor’s office did not respond to an e-mail from The Independent asking for a response to today’s news of the state’s worsening financial situation.
As New Mexico officials prepare to increase oversight of health insurance rates—with one eye on an influx of federal cash and the other on impending health care reform rules—members of the Public Regulation Commission are already struggling with public pressure to crack down on rapidly rising rates. Now PRC Commissioner Jason Marks says state law should be strengthened to require the Insurance Superintendent to reject unreasonable premium rate requests.
New Mexico could get more help with reviewing rate hike requests from health insurance companies if it gets a $1 million grant the federal government is offering to strengthen oversight of the process.
In 2008, the same year that Raymond McCaskey earned $10.6 million as former CEO of Health Care Services Corp. (HCSC) – roughly $9 million of it in bonus pay — a former executive vice president for the company took…
A health insurer that wants to raise monthly premiums on New Mexicans should submit to an independent review and pay for it itself, a state lawmaker said this week. Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, said she propose that change to state law when the Legislature reconvenes in January. But that’s not the only change Feldman wants. She also wants regulators empowered to look into an obscure industry practice called “closed blocking.”
Does Blue Cross Blue Shield New Mexico’s rate increase presage a coming stampede from health insurers seeking increased rates prior to the first reforms of the new federal health care laws taking effect? A quick survey of several officials in recent days found differing opinions on the question. But a few pointed to several provisions in the new law that could lead health insurers to request rate increases.
Attorney General Gary King supports a change to state law to give the PRC more power over health care rate increases. King’s support comes two days after it was announced that his office had helped negotiate a settlement that allows Blue Cross Blue Shield New Mexico to raise premiums by an average of 21.3 percent on 40,000 New Mexicans. The state insurance superintendent and the insurance division decide health insurance rate increases, while the PRC hears and decides rate-hike requests in the telecommunications, energy and utility industries.
Roughly 40,000 New Mexicans will watch their health care premiums rise by an average of 21 percent after the state struck a weekend deal with Blue Cross Blue Shield New Mexico.
The agreement may be a done deal after Monday, but how it came about had one member of the state Public Regulation Commission howling mad and at least one state lawmaker calling for legislation to overhaul the state’s rate-setting process.
“This should have been deliberated in public,” PRC member Jason Marks said of the rate hike.
PRC commissioners ordered state Insurance Superintendent Morris Chavez last month to hold Monday’s public hearing on Blue Cross Blue Shield’s request to raise rates 24.6 percent, something that insurance Division staff had approved originally in February.
“Instead, we got a backroom deal,” Marks said. “It could be an appropriate, reasonable deal, but I do know I had a lot of questions that haven’t been answered.”
The settlement was negotiated over the weekend by the Insurance Division, state Attorney General’s office and Blue Cross Blue Shield New Mexico, a Division of Health Care Service Corporation.
The rate hike will affect approximately 40,000 policyholders, and will be retroactive, taking effect April 1. The rate increase will affect several individual market health plans offered by the company. Employer-based health plans will not be affected.
News of the agreement surprised and, in certain cases, infuriated some of the more than 50 people that had packed the Public Regulation Commission hearing room in Santa Fe for what had been billed as a public hearing about the company’s request to raise its health insurance premiums. At least eight armed state police officers were on hand Monday, highlighting the tension.
The surprise agreement also led to predictions that the Legislature would tackle how the State Insurance Office sets rates in next year’s 60-day legislative session.
“I think the result of this will be legislation to change rate setting,” Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, told The Independent on Monday afternoon. “I don’t think anyone was happy with this ruling. And I’m hoping for the cooperation of the insurance commissioner and the AG.”
Several attendees of Monday’s meeting, meanwhile, said they were disappointed to learn that the agreement had been forged prior to Monday’s scheduled hearing, especially after some had taken time off from work.
“I came here thinking we’re going to make a difference,” Dr. Christopher Fletcher, a Santa Fe Blue Cross provider, said. “Instead, this was done behind our backs. I don’t care if it was the front room, the back room, or the bathroom.”
How the agreement was struck
State Insurance Commissioner Morris Chavez appeared to take umbrage at the implication that the state or his staff had done something improper in forging the agreement.
“You’ve made some very serious allegations about a backroom deal,” Chavez said to Marks in a moment particularly fraught with tension. “I don’t think it was a backroom deal. To make a statement that the Attorney General of New Mexico made a backroom deal is mind-blowing.”
Chavez told the PRC that the agreement came out of a fear that Blue Cross Blue Shield might pull out of providing health insurance in rural areas around New Mexico. Blue Cross Blue Shield insures up to 70 percent of rural New Mexicans who buy their own insurance, according to Chavez.
“Of concern was they’d potentially be pulling out of the (rural New Mexico) market,” Chavez told the PRC.
The deal struck over the weekend has Blue Cross Blue Shield NM agreeing to continue to sell insurance in rural New Mexico and to do a better job of informing consumers about changes in their coverage, and to provide 60 days’ advanced notice for future rate hikes, Chavez said.
Chavez also pledged to post proposed rate hikes on the Insurance Division website in the future.
Insurance Superintendent’s responsibilities a concern
Chavez said Monday in explaining this weekend’s agreement that he is required by state law to consider the “solvency” or economic well-being of regulated corporations, and Blue Cross Blue Shield NM reports that it is losing money.
That didn’t sit well with Feldman, the Albuquerque state senator.
“They say they were forced to rule on very narrow grounds,” Feldman said. “We need to make sure the public is protected as well as the insurance companies.”
Also of concern to Marks was the insurer’s “medical loss ratio” — or how much of revenue is spent on medical care — of 66 percent.
“I wonder (about) the loss ratio in the 60 to 66 percent range,” Marks said. “We as a state just passed a law saying the minimum loss ratio should be at least 75 percent. We could ask why 33 percent on overhead and administrative compensation is reasonable, and why they’re sitting on more than $6 billion in reserves. …I would have liked to have heard these questions addressed in a public process.”
Marks was referring to a new law that limits how much an insurance company can spend on administrative costs.
Blue Cross Blue Shield NM owner HCSC is a mutual insurance company, owned by its customers; profits must be reinvested in the business or given to customers. But HCSC’s chief executive officer was paid $10.6 million in salary and bonuses in 2008, according to Consumers Union attorney Sondra Roberto, who had urged Chavez to reverse the rate increase.
“They have a lot of money,” Fletcher, the doctor and Blue Cross Blue Shield provider, told The Independent of Blue Cross Blue Shield NM. “They just lie straight out. Payments for us doctors, Blue Cross is one of the worst.”
The rate hike will hit some hard
The details of Blue Cross Blue Shield’s business structure was lost on Moya Melody, who was concerned with more immediate matters. Melody, who attended Monday’s hearing, said the new rates will represent 30 percent of her household’s income.
“Last year, we had a 20 percent increase and we just couldn’t pay,” Melody said. “So we went from a $500 deductible to a $1,000 deductible. Now, it’s still going up again this year.”
Moya and her husband, carpenter Kim Radsliff, have seen rate increases from Blue Cross Blue Shield NM every year since 2004, when they paid $562 per month, she said. That represented about 16 percent of their household income.
Now, with the increase approved today, they will pay $1,305 per month — 30 percent of their household income, Melody said.
“As far as I’m concerned, they’re a profit-making business,” Melody said. “We’re self-employed and don’t have a choice except to have no insurance at all.”
NMI’s Trip Jennings contributed to this story.
In 2014, the federal government will pay 100 percent of health care costs under Medicaid, the government’s low-income health care program, thanks to the new federal health care reform law. But between now and then the health care portion of New Mexico’s state budget could soar as more people enroll in the government program and federal stimulus dollars disappear.
New Mexico has no law requiring hospitals to publicly report rates of hospital-acquired infections, despite the recommendations of a 2009 Healthcare-Associated Infections Advisory Committee report. The lack of public disclosure, supporters of such openness say, means that New Mexicans don’t have a way to measure the quality of care they receive at the state’s medical facilities.
The House Taxation and Revenue Committee on Wednesday night rejected by a seven to eight vote a Senate proposal to raise New Mexico’s cigarette tax.
The aim of the bill is to stop potential state contractors from donating money to public officials while they hold or are seeking a state contract. But the sponsor, Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, says an amendment to the bill…
A bill sponsored by Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, which would post online a database of political contributions from those seeking contracts with the state, and ban contributions while a contract is being considered, cleared the Senate easily on Monday.…
