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.
Businesses in California, Hawaii, even Georgia, are responding to Friday furlough days for state workers by offering discounts and other benefits, according to the Wall Street Journal. The paper calls it an unintended benefit of furlough days. Well, we’ll…
A provision of the newly passed health reform bill that raises doctors’ payments under Medicaid is both temporary and limited in the scope of medical services it covers. The restrictions have left a number of health care advocates and doctors’ groups concerned about patients’ long-term access to care under the reform legislation.
California state lawmakers once again topped the list of best-paid legislators in the nation, reports the New York Times, with salaries of $95,000 a year for the rank and file. Meanwhile, New Mexico is one of the few states…
A Rasmussen poll shows that Lt. Gov. Diane Denish leads each of her Republican challengers by between 9 and 22 percent. And while views on health care reform are mixed, New Mexicans generally have a negative opinion of the tea parties.
On Thursday evening the U.S. House of Representatives voted 220-207 to send the reconciliation “fix” bill to health care reform to President Barack Obama. The vote was made necessary after the Senate parliamentarian ruled some pieces of the bill didn’t…
Yesterday, Senate Democrats successfully defeated all Republican amendments to the reconciliation “fix” bill in a so-called “vote-a-rama” session that lasted until early in the morning in Washington D.C. Then, this afternoon, the Senate passed the reconciliation fix on a 56-43…
The 465,000 New Mexicans without health care coverage will be most affected by health care reform, as it mandates that they obtain coverage, either through purchasing it or through the Medicaid program. At least 100,000 of them will likely become eligible for Medicaid, while many with moderate incomes will get help buying insurance.
President Barack Obama signed into law the historic health care reform bill today. The bill passed the House Sunday evening after the Senate passed it on Christmas Eve.
“Today, I’m signing this reform bill into law on behalf of my…
Ten Republican state attorneys general are threatening to sue the federal government over health care reform. But beneath the headlines, press releases, petitions and donation drives that followed the historic vote in Congress, lawyers and legislators are less confident that health care reform can be repealed — much less that it can be repealed quickly.
With the last-minute support of anti-abortion colleagues, House Democrats on Sunday passed historic legislation to extend health coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans, protect patients from the most flagrant abuses of insurance companies, and curb runaway health care costs. All told, the $940 billion reforms represent the most sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system since the creation of Medicare more than four decades ago. The tally was 219 to 212 in support of reforms passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve, with 34 Democrats joining every Republican in the lower chamber in opposition to the measure.
The United States House of Representatives voted to pass a sweeping health care reform bill Sunday evening. The bill passed on a 219-212 vote.
Representative Harry Teague voted against the bill as he had announced late last…
Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Turner said Saturday that he will sue the federal government if the health care reform proposal being considered in Congress is signed by President Barack Obama. A vote is expected in the Senate Sunday.
U.S. Rep. Harry Teague said Friday that he will vote against the health care reform bill expected to come up for a vote in the U.S. House next week. “After reviewing the final health care reform proposal, I do not believe that the bill does enough to contain costs and it definitely does not do enough to rein in the out of control insurance companies that are driving up healthcare costs in this country,” Teague said.
Pro Publica has a very helpful side by side of the original version of the Senate health care reform and what will be added or subtracted in the Senate’s reconciliation bill. The reconciliation bill will be the final health…
The House-passed health care reform bill strayed from the Senate proposal on a number of key issues, from children’s coverage to Medicaid payments to the creation of a public health insurance plan. Here’s how the reconciliation bill — which House leaders unveiled to address what they considered weaknesses in the Senate legislation — would tweak (or not) some of the most contentious provisions in the upper chamber’s bill
There are dozens of still-undecided members of the U.S. House when it comes to Sunday’s looming vote on health-care reform. Today Politico highlights them, and U.S. Rep. Harry Teague, D-N.M., gets a mention.
The Washington Post, on the…
The Congressional Budget Office today released its long awaited score on a health care reform bill that is in front of Congress. The score ended up being a boost for supporters of the bill, as the CBO predicted the…
About 18,000 New Mexicans who purchase individual Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurance plans are about to see a 29.5 percent increase in their payments. Another 2,700 individuals will see a 10 percent increase, and “a handful” in a couple of…
Gov. Bill Richardson was on Larry King Live last night to debate Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota. Pawlenty, a Republican, is considered a likely candidate for President in 2012.
While he hasn’t signed on to a letter being circulated in the Senate urging the use of reconciliation to include the public option in a health care bill, Sen. Jeff Bingaman told radio reporters yesterday that the public option…
