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TAKING STEPS
As the Chairwoman of the Insure New Mexico! Council, I'd like to clarify several points in your article [Outtakes, June 22:
]. Certainly we can all agree that the lack of health care coverage for over 400,000 New Mexicans is unacceptable. Therefore Gov. Richardson put together the initial Heath Care Coverage and Access Task Force two years ago.
The HCCA Task Force took a "blue sky" approach to explore all possible means of solving New Mexico's health care issues. One of HCCA's final recommendations was to create a smaller, "nuts and bolts" group of legislators, small businesses, non-profits, advocates, consumers, health care professionals and insurers to turn proposals into legislation. That group is the Insure New Mexico! Council.
The boldest ideas coming from HCCA were based on increased federal funding for Medicaid. But until there is a political "sea change" in Washington, that approach isn't feasible. This year alone, Congress will cut Medicaid by $10 billion and furthering NM's dependence on federal dollars seems unwise. Instead, the Insure New Mexico! Council took the most practical recommendations and turned them into legislation that we believe will expand health insurance access for many New Mexicans who currently do not have coverage.
First the Human Services Department is reaching out to 48,000-plus children currently eligible to receive Medicaid but have not enrolled. We have earmarked $1 million in funds to conduct outreach to mostly Native American and Hispanic parents to enroll their children in Medicaid-because these populations are traditionally underserved by the program.
Second, we are establishing the Small Employer Insurance Program, a public-private partnership to provide reasonably priced health insurance for small businesses who have dropped or who have not offered insurance for their employees for the last 12 months. We expect this program will be ready by the end of the year.
Third, through the Insure New Mexico! legislative package, small employers with 50 or fewer employees can now buy coverage from 11 participating commercial insurers through the New Mexico Health Insurance Alliance at competitive rates with less medical restrictions; parents can keep their dependent adult children (until the age of 25) on their single or group health insurance policies regardless of student status; and we have required insurance companies to provide health benefits to offer coverage to their part-time employees if the employer chooses to do so.
Fourth, effective July 1 we began the State Coverage Insurance (SCI) program, which will match federal and state funding with employer and employees' contributions to get more New Mexicans insured. Working adults under 200 percent of the federal poverty level are qualified for this program.
With these initiatives under way, the Insure New Mexico! Council is reviewing the rest of its 29 recommendations and will be proposing ideas to the governor before the next legislative session. These ideas include modifications to Medicaid as well as potential changes in our health insurance, tax laws and state purchasing practices to encourage employers to offer coverage. We are also examining a comprehensive private market universal coverage proposal put forth by a citizen advocate.
Many in the health care advocacy community would like to wave a magic wand and grant health care for all. And in principle, I wish we could do that. But sadly, and especially with the current administration in Washington, there is no magic bullet to solve the health care crisis. And, if we depend on Washington's "best intentions," we might have to wait a dangerously long time to expand health care access.
The Insure New Mexico! legislation doesn't solve the health care crisis, but it does put us on the right path to expanded health care for New Mexicans. I believe health care should be a right for all people. But, until we can change minds and change leadership in Washington, we have to concentrate on designing creative and innovative programs that begin to insure more of our people. The Insure New Mexico! Council has given us a good start.
Diane Denish
Lieutenant Governor
Santa Fe
