http://youtu.be/Cw0lWQb_CX8
Doña Ana County joins Bernalillo and McKinley counties, the Albuquerque City Council and a handful of other municipalities in New Mexico that have already adopted Medicaid buy-in resolutions this year. The federally supported program provides health coverage to low-income residents.
Organizers from the NM Together for Healthcare campaign, a statewide coalition of families and organizations, presented the resolution to the county’s Board of Commissioners at a recent meeting.
Abuko Estrada, supervising attorney for healtchare at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty in Albuquerque, said the group is looking to expand Medicaid access to roughly 180 thousand New Mexicans without health insurance.
“No family should go without healthcare because they can’t afford it and so what the Medicaid buy-in would do is it would leverage the Medicaid program to offer a plan through the state that people can buy into that’s more affordable than private options that are currently available on the marketplace," Estrada said.
State lawmakers passed a Memorial during the 2018 legislative session exploring the policy and financial impacts of offering New Mexicans a Medicaid buy-in plan.
Nearly 830 thousand New Mexicans received Medicaid benefits in September according to the state’s Human Services department. Estrada said among New Mexico’s uninsured residents, about 25 thousand live in Doña Ana County.
“These include individuals who just can’t afford coverage through issues with employer coverage rules under the Affordable Care Act, issues around just being low income and not being able to pay co-pays, deductibles or maybe even the monthly premiums themselves, as well as individuals who are undocumented and may not have access to care because they’re completely locked out of the healthcare system via Medicaid or marketplace coverage," Estrada said.
Campaign member and former District 2 County Commissioner David Garcia said between his mother and neighbor, he understands the local need for healthcare access.
“My mother is 89 years old, almost 90 and I know what trials and tribulations she goes [through] with health issues," Garcia said. "But I have a neighbor that is about a block away from me, has no running water, lives in a little mobile home and the other day he had run out of oxygen and he has no medical coverage insurance and I say how could we do better and promote something like Strong Families is doing in promoting something, a buy-in for insurance.”
District 2 County Commissioner Ramon Gonzalez presented the commission board with details of the resolution before the county passed the proposal. Gonzalez said now it’s up to state legislators to draft a bill that will cover people without insurance in lower-income districts like his.
“In my area we’ve got a lot of poverty which comes from Anthony, Chaparral, to Chamberino, to La Union, to Sunland Park and Anapra. In which I’ve seen a lot of my constituents unable to go to the doctor’s [office] because the thing is, they don’t have no type of insurance," Gonzalez said. "That was my concern is to get my constituents some type of coverage that they will need so they can move forward in their lives. That’s what got me interested in this.”
Estrada said one of the main barriers to individuals getting coverage under the Affordable Care Act has been affordability. Healthcare was also a key talking point for politicians during the 2018 midterm elections.
“In fact, you saw with the most recent election in a poll that was done that 77 percent of New Mexicans said that affordability of copays, premiums and deductibles were a huge issue in voting for them in the elections and so the Medicaid buy-in plan is an innovate solution that can address that and provide quality affordable healthcare to every New Mexican," Estrada said.
Outgoing Gov. Susana Martinez expanded Medicaid in New Mexico under the Affordable Care Act in 2013. Since then, the uninsured rate in New Mexico has dropped by more than half, from 382 thousand people in 2013 to 187 thousand in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Supporters said legislators are analyzing a Medicaid buy-in study to determine the potential cost to consumers, providers and the state budget.
