Democracy for New Mexico

Next Health Action NM Community Meeting: Legislative Priorities

From Health Action NM:
HEALTH ACTION NM COMMUNITY MEETING
THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2007
11:30 AM - 1:30 PM
First Unitarian Church
3701 Carlisle NE, Social Hall, ABQ
LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES PANEL

• Representative DANICE PICRAUX, Chair, Interim Health and Human Services Committee - Legislation from the Interim Committee
• RUTH HOFFMAN, Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministries - Taxes, Housing and Medicaid
• SANDRA PENN, MD, Health Care for All Campaign, Health Care Reform Update
• Representative LUCKY VARELA, Chair, Legislative Finance Committee, (Invited)

EVERYONE WELCOME!! BRING YOUR LUNCH AND JOIN US! For More information: Roybalhanm@aol.com or 505-314-0656.

Vendor Chosen to Analyze Health Care Models that will Close the Health Coverage Gap in NM

From the NM Human Services Department:
Santa Fe, New Mexico, December 19, 2006 – An agreement has been reached on behalf of the Health Coverage for New Mexicans Committee (Committee), between the state and Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (Mathematica), to conduct an extensive quantitative and comparative analysis of three health coverage models to help close the health coverage gap in New Mexico. “Governor Bill Richardson charged the Committee with finding a health care model that would get every New Mexico citizen the health care coverage they deserve,” said Secretary Pamela Hyde, Human Services Department. “This contract gets us one step closer to making that a reality.”

Mathematica was selected the successful bidder from three finalists. Mathematica, Lewin Group, and Health Management Associates were asked to submit best and final offers after careful evaluation of the original proposals and oral presentations before the Committee last month. 

Mathematica was chosen due to its experience and expertise in financial, actuarial and health policy reform studies, including the experience and expertise of its subcontractors. Mathematica is based in Washington, D.C. and will be using the University of New Mexico's Bureau of Business and Economic Research, Institute of Public Law and Institute of Public Health, and two other subcontractors to conduct this study. The total contract cost to be paid by the state is $310,782.

Mathematica will be working on a short timeframe to analyze the costs of the three different approaches to closing the health coverage gap in New Mexico. A preliminary report and presentation are due in April 2007, with the final report and presentation due in June 2007.

The analysis will consider the costs of the models to employers, the state, individuals and health care companies compared to taking no action with the current system. The three models chosen take different approaches to providing a comprehensive approach to provide health insurance or coverage for all New Mexicans. The models are:

• The Health Security Act, which is a single plan administered by a commission appointed by the Governor,
• The New Mexico Health Choices Plan, which is a market-based universal coverage plan that would utilize vouchers provided to individuals, and
• The New Mexico Health Coverage Plan, which is also a market-based plan that would preserve roles for both the current public and private health care system in the state, and includes a requirement that everyone have insurance with a clear role for employers.

The 23-member Committee and four advisors appointed by the Governor and the Legislative leadership selected these models from several presented to them.

NEW MEXICO HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT
P.O. Box 2348
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-2348

For more information contact Betina Gonzales McCracken 505-827-6245 or 505-699-4675

Editor's Note - Background Info:

This Santa Fe New Mexican article provides summaries of the three health coverage plans that will be studied.

Here's a post on State Sen. Dede Feldman's blog on Governor Richardson's formation of the Health Coverage for New Mexicans Committee and its members.

And here's a recent Albuquerque Journal op/ed column by Eleanor Chavez and Max Bartlett of the Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign that describes their plan and reports that "11 out of 19 members of Gov. Bill Richardson's Health Coverage for New Mexicans  ... ranked the New Mexico Health Security Plan as their No. 1 choice to be included in a study that will analyze three different health care reform models and how they impact rising health care costs." Those who attended the this month's DFA-DFNM Meetup had a chance to hear about the plan from Dana Millen of the Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign.

Tonight's 'We The People' to Focus on Pain Management Policy

WE THE PEOPLE: November 30, 2006
Thursdays, 7-8 PM MST
Albuquerque Community Cable Channel 27
Call-in: (505) 346-1633
Hosted by Mickey Bock & Judith Binder
Special Guest: Dr. Walter B. Forman
Time to stop pain! Dr. Forman is a member of  the faculty at the UNM School of Medicine. His research and writings have focused on hospice and palliative care.

You can also watch the show online via streaming media at https://quote-unquote.org/. WE THE PEOPLE is an innovative call-in television show looking for TRUTH and TRANSPARENCY in local, state and federal governments.

10/12: HANM Community Meeting on Behavioral Health

UPDATE: Per Marvin Moss, this is also a joint meeting with the Democratic Party of Bernalillo County, which replaces this month's Third Thursday meeting.

HEALTH ACTION NEW MEXICO COMMUNITY MEETING
Thursday, October 12th, 6:30-8:00 PM
COMPASS BANK BLDG.
2444 Louisiana NE (south of Menaul)
NMSU Offices, First Floor Foyer- enter in back

“NM Behavioral Health Services ... How Does it Work? Does It Work?”

Presenters: State Behavioral Health Collaborative, Karen Meador; HSD Value Options of New Mexico, Pam Galbreth; CEO Bernalillo County Local Collaborative, Peter Cubra

Join us! Everyone Welcome.

NOW is the Time to be Heard on Healthcare for All

From the Health Care for All Campaign:

Health Care for All Campaign Supporters ... NOW IS THE TIME TO BE HEARD!

All organizations, businesses, faith groups, insured, uninsured, and underinsured persons, health care professionals and advocates are invited to speak up with their concerns and ideas regarding health care access and affordability at the:

HEALTH COVERAGE FOR ALL NEW MEXICANS COMMITTEE PUBLIC INPUT MEETING:

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27TH
3 PM – 7:30 PM
(Public input begins at 5:15 PM)
STATE CAPITOL, ROOM 317, Santa Fe
Click for event flyer (.doc)

THIS IS AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC INPUT concerning the rising cost of health care and the need for reform of the health care system in New Mexico.

The state sponsored Health Coverage for All New Mexicans Committee is charged with identifying various universal health care models to be compared by national experts with respect to projected costs in order to determine which model is best for New Mexicans. Committee Chairperson, Lt Governor Diane Denish announced this one-and-only meeting for public input.

Don’t miss this opportunity - Now is the time to have your voice heard. The Health Care for All Campaign is committed to:

1. universal health care coverage for all persons living in New Mexico;
2. models to be selected for this study should be real reform of the current system, not merely an expansion of the current system; and,
3. models selected should address administrative and other cost savings for the system.

HOW TO EXPRESS YOUR CONCERNS TO POLICY MAKERS:

• Email Ruby Ann Esquibel at Rubyann.esquibel@state.nm.us and ask to be put on the list to speak at the public meeting on September 27, 2006;
• Call Ruby Ann Esquibel at 505-827-1345 and ask to be put on the list to speak at the meeting;
• Come and sign up to speak at the September 27, 2006 public meeting; or,
• Write your comments and email to Rubyann.esquibel@nm.state.us or mail to Ruby Ann Esquibel, Human Services Department, PO Box 2348, Santa Fe, NM 87504-2348, or fax to 505-827-3185.

For More Information, call the Health Care for All Campaign at 505-314-0656 or visit www.healthactionnm.org.

Speak Up For Your Health

From NM Voices for Children:
Part of Governor Richardson’s 5-point plan to increase health care coverage in New Mexico was the formation of the Health Coverage for New Mexicans Committee. This group is tasked with studying and recommending the best model for providing health care for every New Mexican. Universal health care has long been a goal of NM Voices, and is the focus of our work with the Health Care for All Campaign.

The Health Coverage Committee is holding hearings, one of which will allow for input from the public. Please consider attending this meeting (it’s on Sept. 27) to let the committee know how important universal health care is to you. If you can’t attend a meeting, please consider letting the governor know how happy you are to see the state taking steps to reform the health care system.

What You Can Do:

• Attend the Sept. 27 committee meeting, 3 to 7 PM, in room 322 of the State Capitol in Santa Fe.
• Contact the governor to let him know that you support universal access and the need to control the rising cost of health care, by sending an email via his website: www.governor.state.nm.us or calling 476-2200.
• Sign up to get on the email list to find out what is happening with the Committee, by emailing RubyAnn Esquibel at Rubyann.esquibel@state.nm.us

Editor's Note: More information about this initiative can be found at the website of Health Action NM.

Guest Blogger: NM Sen. Dede Feldman on Governor's Health Care Initiatives

Now here’s some genuinely good news. Governor Bill Richardson has gotten religion!Governor Richardson Appoints Committee to Study Various Models of Universal Health Care!

After line-item vetoing the money Rep. Danice Picraux and I had inserted in the budget for a cost study of various models of universal health care, the Guv is going for it. He’s appointed a committee and we’ll start work soon.

He’s also going with a key recommendation from the legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee and last year’s Insure New Mexico Task Force. That recommendation is that we expand the eligibility of Medicaid for adults to a decent level (100% of the federal poverty level or about $16,600 for a family of three), to relieve pressure on stressed hospitals who now provide the indigent care, and let the federal government pay three quarters of the bill. Thank You Governor---Hosana, Hosana in the Highest.

Now all we have to do is to get the legislature to fund the expansion to the tune of $62 million. I hope I can count on some of you out there in the blogsphere to help. It will mean the opportunity for health insurance for 42,000 low income New Mexicans, almost all of them working.   

Click the link to read the news release out of the Governor’s Office: "Governor Richardson Takes Action to Close Uninsured Gap in New Mexico"

Editor's Note: This is a Guest Blog by NM Senator Dede Feldman and it's cross-posted on her own blog. If you'd like to be a guest blogger on DFNM, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link on the top left-hand side of the main page.

Bush's Plagues Grow and Mutate

Juan Cole pulls no punches in reporting without flinching on what's being said in the world press about the disintegrating situations in Iraq and Lebanon. About 100 civilians are being killed each day in Iraq these days. Think about that. The plague of violence, unrestrained aggression and civilian murder begun by Bush and the neocons now spreads unchecked by an administration caught up in the shameful pathology of its own hubris, stubborness and greed.

I didn't link to any of Juan's posts in particular -- just read down his main page and stop anywhere. We should all be in mourning what all this portends. What goes around comes around. There is no way to prepare, really. So many chickens will be coming home to roost. None of this was necessary. Excerpts:

... ' Britain's junior foreign minister Kim Howells, visiting Beirut, Saturday questioned Israel's military tactics and slammed its killing of "so many children and so many people. These are not surgical strikes," he said of the air and artillery bombardments since July 12 that have killed more than 300 civilians in Lebanon.

... Israel on Saturday attacked and partially crippled the media outlets of the Christian and Sunni factions in the Cedar Revolution that Bush and his supporters trumpeted as the foundation of the "new Middle East."

... In Iraq, young Shiite clerical nationalist Muqtada al-Sadr gave an incendiary sermon in which he predicted Israel would collapse like New York's twin towers on Sept 11, 2001, if Sunnis and Shiites join in their fight. "I will continue defending my Shiite and Sunni brothers, and I tell them that if we unite, we will defeat Israel without the use of weapons," Sadr said during a speech in the southern city Iraqi city of Kufa. ' Yes, Bush has certainly created a model democracy in Iraq. (Muqtada has 30 members in parliament, and in conjunction with the Da'wa Party, he is a king maker in the new system).

... ' Separately, Lebanese security sources said towns along the border had been targeted by 2,500 bombs, missiles, rockets and shells between Thursday night and dawn Friday. The sources also accused Israel of using cluster bombs in an attack on the Southern town of Blida. The sources added that phosphorous and cluster munitions were also on Al-Orqoub, Hasbayya, Ramta, Zaaourta, Amfit and other border villages. Israeli shelling also destroyed a pharmaceutical plant Tyre.

... Israel has killed so many civilians in South Lebanon that health authorities are forced to stick them in mass graves. Megan Stack writes: ' "I've been a doctor for years, and I've never seen anything like this," said Nabil Harkus, who stood over a trio of unidentified corpses. "They can't fight Hezbollah because Hezbollah is not an army," he said, referring to the Israeli warplanes overhead. "They kill the people because they think it's the only way to stop Hezbollah." The Lebanese government has confirmed the deaths of 350 people in the fighting so far, but rescue workers here warn that the true tally is probably much higher. Relentless bombing has wrecked roads and rendered communication so spotty that no one knows how many people have died. '

Meanwhile, Bush rushes more "precision bombs" to Israel. Yes, you read that right.

Richardson Proposes 5 Point Plan to Expand Healthcare Coverage

Governor Bill Richardson will be introducing a number of measures to the state Legislature in January aimed at expanding medical coverage to significant numbers of New Mexicans who currently lack health insurance. The uninsured population here is estimated to total around 400,000 people or 22% of the state's population -- second only to Texas for the highest percentage of uninsured residents in a state.

In addition, Richardson appointed a task force to be chaired by Lt. Gov. Diane Denish that will study various options for achieving some sort of universal healthcare coverage in the long term. The study will be jointly funded by the NM Human Services Department and the Legislative Council Service, and national experts will be invited to review each plan and produce cost estimates for each option. The recommendations of the task force will be submitted to the Legislature in 2008. Here's the article in the Santa Fe New Mexican that reviews the Governor's proposals, provides feedback from the community and provides data on New Mexico's uninsured population.

Included below is the Governor's press release on this intiative. What are your thoughts on his proposals?

From the Office of Governor Bill Richardson:
June 20, 2006 (Santa Fe, NM) -- Governor Bill Richardson today announced a five point plan to help extend health care coverage to more New Mexicans. This plan builds upon the effort Governor Richardson took during the last legislative session to make sure that every New Mexico child, five and younger, has access to health care coverage.

"Today we are making another huge step forward," said Governor Richardson. "These are immediate steps and longer term solutions to cover the nearly 400,000 New Mexicans who currently do not have health insurance. Uninsured New Mexicans are at tremendous risk and the effect of uncompensated care on our health care system is profound. We can't wait for the federal government to solve this issue, we have to act now."

The Governor's five point plan includes:

1. Phase in a requirement that companies that do business with the state must offer health insurance benefits to their New Mexico employees. The General Services Department will lead a small group of cabinet secretaries to develop a plan that will institute this requirement by fiscal year 2008. This group will be sensitive to the needs of small vendors.

2. The General Services Department will pinpoint the number of state employees who decline health coverage. Currently, if an employee declines enrollment, the state does not check to see if they have coverage through a spouse or another entity. This full accounting will help get an accurate picture of the coverage gaps and target outreach to get as many state employees covered as possible.

3. Maximize the Medicaid program. For fiscal year 2008, Governor Richardson will seek funding to increase coverage for adults via a two-year, phased-in approach. This initiative will be specifically designed to help low income adults up to 100% of the federal poverty level. It will leverage millions of dollars in additional federal funding and help cover tens of thousands of New Mexicans.

4. Funding to expand the State Coverage Insurance program to help cover more working adults and asking the federal government to raise the federal poverty requirement to 300% with cost-sharing based on income. Expanding this public/private partnership with small employers will help cover the many hardworking New Mexicans who currently cannot afford insurance.

5. Governor Richardson and the legislative leadership have appointed a 21-member task force to analyze health coverage models and make recommendations on across-the-board coverage solutions for New Mexicans. This Coverage for New Mexicans Committee will have broad membership from the health care industry, insurance and advocacy communities (list below.) This committee will deliver its findings to the Governor in a year, in time to work with the legislature on a comprehensive health coverage package for the 2008 session.

"There are some good ideas emerging at the state level," said Governor Richardson. "States like Massachusetts and Michigan have taken aggressive action to cover more citizens. However, New Mexico has unique needs that make a one-size-fits-all solution problematic. This committee will help find solutions that will work in our unique state."

This plan builds upon the Richardson Administration's efforts over the past three years to close New Mexico's uninsured gap. Following the last legislative session, Governor Richardson signed:

• Senate Bill 267 to help the Human Services Department provide medical or premium assistance to uninsured children who are not otherwise Medicaid eligible
• House Bill 24 to give employers more health insurance options for employees through both the Health Insurance Alliance and state or federal agencies offering health insurance coverage

Proposed Participants for the Health Coverage for New Mexicans Committee:

NM House Members
James Madalena
Danice Picraux
Brian Moore

NM Senate Members
Dede Feldman
Carroll Leavell
Mary Jane Garcia

Health Care Advocate
Charlotte Roybal, Health Action NM

Uninsured
April Redbird

Division of Insurance
Mike Batte, Public Regulation Commission

Insurance Industry
David Scrase, M.D., Presbyterian Health Plan
Craig Keyes, M.D., United Healthcare

Employers
Alfredo Vigil, M.D., Health Centers of Northern New Mexico
Duane Trythall, Excel Staffing Companies
Dennis Pena

Nonprofit
Michelle Melendez, St. Joseph's Community Health Services

Labor
Robin Gould, Communication Workers of America

Hospital Representative
Steve Altmiller, San Juan Regional Medical Center

Provider/ Physician
Jim Tryon, M.D., NM Medical Society
Charlie Alfero CEO, Hildalgo Medical Services

Human Services Department
Pam Hyde, Secretary

CHAIR
Diane Denish, Lt Governor

Health Action NM Community Meeting Set for 7/26

(Click on image for larger version.)