Does any of this sound familiar? Soaring pharmaceutical prices; failing rural hospitals, confusing healthcare plan options with too many misleading and confusing marketing pitches to sign up for competing coverages; Long waits for appointments, often months, even for time-critical conditions; High premiums, deductibles, and co-pays; A litany of confusing letters from healthcare and coverage providers detailing charges and balances. And yet there are NM Legislators who don’t understand the need for healthcare transformation.

NM Rural Hospitals Reeling, Drug Prices Continue to Climb, How Could There Be ANY Opposition to Health Security Plan Design Process?

Our healthcare system is a mess, but in New Mexico we have a cadre of advocates and legislators who understand the problem and have a plan to fix it. Health Security!

The Health Security Planning and Design that is underway and requires continued funding and a publicly accountable and transparent process for making HSA design decisions. This plan and design process was funded during the 2021 and the 2022 Legislative Sessions, but additional funds are being sought this year to continue the process.

Once implemented, the statewide HSA Plan will automatically cover nearly all New Mexicans, offer a comprehensive set of healthcare services, provide freedom of choice of healthcare provider and facility (no more networks) even across state lines, and will simplify administration since it is not dependent on the costly and complicated private insurance system.

• A 2020 study by KNG concluded that the Plan would reduce the percentage of uninsured New Mexicans to almost zero and reduce state spending by $1.6 to $2.7 billion.
• The Plan allows freedom of choice of providers without networks. Choice includes providers and health facilities across state lines.
• The Plan offers services equal to those in the state employees’ health plan, including behavioral health.
• The Plan is administered by a nongovernmental, geographically representative public commission structured much like a cooperative. No one from the insurance industry will serve on the commission. All commission meetings will be open to the public, and their account books are also public. All commissioners will receive their own coverage through the Plan.
• Premiums will be based on income, with minimums and maximums.
• The Plan preserves the existing, private healthcare delivery system.

Alot to like here. Yet, from years of experience, we know that the path to Health Security is littered with legislative landmines. if you want to find out more about what Health Security is and how it could benefit you and New Mexico and find out about the landmines that are impeding our achieving Health Security, join the Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign, for a strategy zoom on Saturday morning January 9th from 10:30 to 12:00 PM registration information is below.

This is an important discussion as we have legislators who would like to prevent us from getting Health Security in the Mexico. The  irony is that most of the issues to be researched in this design process involve researching and designing solutions to address some of New Mexico’s most perplexing and damaging health care system problems. With sufficient funding, among the issues to be designed would be:

• how to fix the failing rural health system and the failing hospitals that serve those rural health systems.
• how to curb soaring Medicaid costs and
• creating a capacity to negotiate drug costs, costs that keep rising and rising (see links to articles on Medicaid over charging and the need to rein in Medicaid costs at bottom of page, along with an excellent one page summary of the Heath Security Plan.).

How could there be legislators who don’t want to solve these problems and along the way develop a health care system for New Mexico that actually serves the needs of New Mexicans affordably and efficiently. Find out what you can do to make sure that we get Health Security in Mexico join me at this important zoom discussion.

RegisterToday ! .Register here for Saturday

We have a lot to share. We have a lot to do. Join Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign Executive Director, Mary Feldblum, on January 7 from 10:30 AM to noon to discuss the design process and our plans for the upcoming session. Register here for .Saturday.

In solidarity & hope, but see below

Paul & Roxanne

Categories: Healthcare & Coverage

Tags: Featured, New Mexico, NM State Legislature, read mor, Roundhouse