SENATE MEMORIAL 86

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2016

INTRODUCED BY

Cisco McSorley

A MEMORIAL

URGING MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO SUPPORT LEGISLATION TO COVER THE COST OF CORONARY CALCIUM SCANS IN MEDICARE AND MEDICAID PROGRAMS.

     WHEREAS, death from heart disease is the number one killer of men and women, killing more people than the top five cancers combined; and

     WHEREAS, more than five hundred thousand men and women die suddenly from heart attacks each year; and

     WHEREAS, many of these individuals have no symptoms prior to experiencing a heart attack; and

     WHEREAS, a heart scan procedure, also known as a coronary calcium scan, has the potential of easy identification of people at high risk of a heart attack; and

     WHEREAS, the test is a computerized scan, an imaging study that is brief, simple, painless and inexpensive when compared to many medical tests; and

     WHEREAS, coronary artery disease occurs when plaques build up within the walls of arteries that encircle the heart, causing a narrowing of the arteries; and

     WHEREAS, calcified plaque can mean the presence of coronary artery disease, which increases the risks of heart attacks; and

     WHEREAS, the plaques are deposits in the arterial walls made up of fat, cholesterol and calcium, and heart scans can detect the calcium in those plaques; and

     WHEREAS, the amount of calcium in plaques can be used to calculate a score that, when combined with other health information, may help to determine a person's risk of coronary artery disease on heart attack, according to the Mayo clinic; and

     WHEREAS, the New Mexico heart institute in Albuquerque has prevented thousands of men and women from unnecessarily dying of unrecognized heart disease in the last ten years by utilizing coronary calcium scans; and

     WHEREAS, the coronary calcium scan has enabled some individuals with an abnormal heart scan to be immediately treated with inexpensive generic medications that stopped and reversed their unrecognized heart disease; and

     WHEREAS, because health insurance does not cover the cost of this test, many men and women are not obtaining this simple diagnostic coronary calcium scan; and

     WHEREAS, it would be beneficial for the cost of a coronary calcium scan to be covered by medicare and medicaid social health care programs; and

     WHEREAS, most of the major hospitals in New Mexico already have machines that perform the coronary calcium scans; and

     WHEREAS, because of a lack of funding, these coronary calcium scan machines are underutilized;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that members of the United States congress be urged to support legislation to cover the cost of coronary calcium scans in medicare and medicaid social health care programs; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the members of the United States congress.

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