Over a hundred people attended a town hall meeting held by U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján, Tuesday in Las Cruces at the Dona Ana Community College East Mesa campus Auditorium to address the GOP cuts to healthcare.
Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, one trillion dollars will be cut from Medicaid, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Medicaid eligibility reports by the New Mexico Healthcare Authority show that as of July, about 809,454 New Mexicans are enrolled in Medicaid and about 40% live in rural communities.
Senator Luján shared the impact these cuts will have on rural communities and their healthcare systems.
“Well in addition to people being covered and depending on Medicaid, a lot of the rural health clinics depend on those Medicaid beneficiaries as well to make sure those clinics are open. There's a concern in all rural parts of America that these rural clinics will close. So, as I shared with folks, when I had a stroke three years ago, time was not on my side. If I had to drive hours to get to a medical facility versus 30 to 40 minutes to get to a medical facility, I don't know if I would be alive today. People deserve access to care. We should be expanding access to rural healthcare not eliminating it, as this piece of legislation arguably did. It's going to make it harder on people. And when rural health facilities close, it puts more pressure on the larger hospitals. Think about the medical facilities in the City of Las Cruces, In Alburquerque, or in other larger towns in New Mexico. If there's more pressure out there, the cost of care goes up, and then scarcity gets even worse. Arguably pushing people to out of state coverage away from families and whatnot. It's not the way that we should be providing care in New Mexico or In America,” Luján said.
The senator shared what New Mexicans can do to get their voices heard.
“If something is going on that's going to make it harder for you, please, show up, speak up, write a letter, a phone call,” Luján said.
