HOUSE MEMORIAL 9

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2018

INTRODUCED BY

Deborah A. Armstrong

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TO CHARGE THE LEGISLATIVE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE WITH EXPLORING THE POLICY AND FISCAL IMPLICATIONS OF OFFERING A MEDICAID BUY-IN PLAN TO NEW MEXICO RESIDENTS TO INCREASE LOW-COST HEALTH CARE COVERAGE OPTIONS; REQUESTING THE OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF INSURANCE, THE HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT AND OTHER HEALTH-RELATED AGENCIES AND ENTITIES TO PROVIDE HEALTH PLAN COST AND COVERAGE INFORMATION TO THE LEGISLATIVE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE.

     WHEREAS, everyone in New Mexico deserves access to affordable, high-quality health care coverage for the well-being of families and economic prosperity; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico made tremendous gains in health care coverage through the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, primarily by expanding medicaid coverage to more than two hundred fifty thousand low-income adults; and

     WHEREAS, more than one hundred eighty thousand New Mexicans still do not have health insurance; and

     WHEREAS, the majority of people who remain uninsured earn incomes less than two hundred percent of the federal poverty level and many work in jobs that do not provide health insurance; and

     WHEREAS, according to surveys by the New Mexico health insurance exchange and national research groups, health insurance costs are routinely cited as the number-one reason why New Mexicans remain uninsured; and

     WHEREAS, the bronze-level plans offered on the New Mexico health insurance exchange have deductibles of six thousand four hundred dollars ($6,400) or more per year; and

     WHEREAS, fifty-three percent of low-income adults who have private health insurance through their employers, the marketplace or individual coverage and whose incomes are below two hundred percent of the federal poverty level have health care costs that the commonwealth fund's health care affordability index deems to be "unaffordable"; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexicans who are uninsured or underinsured must often forego needed medical services, have less access to preventive care and behavioral health services and may be forced to wait until medical conditions worsen into expensive and sometimes untreatable emergencies; and

     WHEREAS, medical debt is a major obstacle for New Mexicans to gain financial security and build assets. In fiscal year 2015, over eighty million dollars ($80,000,000) in patient debt to hospitals in the state was sent to collection agencies; and

     WHEREAS, uncompensated health care costs are shifted to health care providers, health insurance plans and taxpayers, resulting in higher insurance premiums and health system costs; and

     WHEREAS, uncertainty at the federal level compels states such as New Mexico to proactively explore innovative opportunities and solutions to provide greater access to affordable, high-quality health coverage to its residents; and

     WHEREAS, medicaid is a popular and trusted coverage source that has served New Mexico well for over fifty years; and

     WHEREAS, medicaid is a cost-effective health coverage model that provides comprehensive health benefits for lower costs than private insurance plans; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico can allow state residents who are currently not eligible for medicaid the option to buy into a health coverage plan that is administered by medicaid by applying for a federal innovation waiver; and

     WHEREAS, offering a medicaid buy-in health coverage plan in the state's insurance market increases choices for low-cost, high-quality health plans that New Mexicans can purchase using federal tax credits and subsidies that are available to low- income and middle-income households for health insurance; and

     WHEREAS, the costs to the state of administering a medicaid buy-in coverage plan are likely to be minimal by realizing potential savings in health system costs and maximizing federal financial subsidies available to individuals to purchase insurance; and

     WHEREAS, several states, including Nevada and Massachusetts, have introduced legislation or initiated studies to explore the option of offering a medicaid plan for consumers to buy health coverage; and

     WHEREAS, two bills were recently introduced in the United States congress, including the State Public Option Act and the Health Care Choice and Affordability Act, that would permit states to provide medicaid as a buy-in coverage option for their residents to purchase without the need to apply for a federal waiver; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico is well-positioned to lead the country in offering a health coverage plan to buy through medicaid, with nearly three-fourths of the state's population already covered by public health coverage programs, including medicaid, medicare, state employee plans and military coverage;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that an opportunity to potentially lower health care costs and expand affordable coverage by offering state residents who are not eligible for medicaid the choice of buying into a health care coverage plan administered by medicaid be recognized; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the New Mexico legislative council be requested to charge the legislative health and human services committee with exploring the policy and fiscal implications of offering a medicaid buy-in coverage option to New Mexico residents by seeking public feedback and evaluating health plan costs of private insurance compared to medicaid managed care plans, administrative feasibility, the impact on health care stakeholders and patients and methods to ensure health care coverage is expanded to low-income, uninsured residents; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the office of superintendent of insurance, the human services department and other state agencies; the New Mexico health insurance exchange; New Mexico health insurers; and health care providers be requested to provide health plan cost and coverage information to the legislative health and human services committee as needed; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the president pro tempore of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, the chair and vice chair of the legislative health and human services committee, the superintendent of insurance, the secretary of human services and the executive director of the New Mexico health insurance exchange. 

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