HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 9

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2011

INTRODUCED BY

Mimi Stewart

FOR THE LEGISLATIVE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE

A JOINT MEMORIAL

URGING THE NEW MEXICO CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO ACTIVELY SEEK TO AMEND THE FEDERAL PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT TO REMOVE THE 2017 DATE FOR STATES TO REQUEST WAIVERS OF INNOVATION.

     WHEREAS, on March 23, 2010, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law; and

     WHEREAS, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act contains many provisions, including funding for many of those provisions, that will benefit New Mexicans in significant ways; and

     WHEREAS, two critical goals of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are to increase access to health care coverage and to contain rising health care costs; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico has a long history of being committed to these goals; and

     WHEREAS, requiring states to set up health insurance exchanges by 2014 is one mechanism in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that is intended to achieve these goals; and

     WHEREAS, although the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires a state to implement health insurance exchanges by 2014 or the federal government will establish such an exchange for a state, the state must demonstrate readiness to implement a health insurance exchange by January 1, 2013; and

     WHEREAS, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act acknowledges that implementation of a health insurance exchange may not be in the best interest of all states; and

     WHEREAS, Section 1332 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provides for a waiver for state innovation, which can serve as an alternative to implementation of a health insurance exchange; and

     WHEREAS, states are required to set up health insurance exchanges by 2014 but are not eligible to apply for a waiver for state innovation until 2017; and

     WHEREAS, states have always been laboratories for experimentation and innovation and should be allowed to continue in that role by working to find solutions to the problems of rising health care costs and reducing the numbers of uninsured residents; and

     WHEREAS, waivers for state innovation allow states to develop approaches that are not based on the federally required health insurance exchange model, provided that the approach still provides comprehensive coverage for its residents, is affordable and has a neutral impact on the federal budget; and

     WHEREAS, if states are able to demonstrate that these criteria are met, states should be allowed to implement these alternative approaches; and

     WHEREAS, a state should not be required to go through a long, expensive, complex and time-consuming process of setting up and implementing a federally required health insurance exchange when a different approach may be more appropriate and more effective for the state's circumstances; and

     WHEREAS, the 2017 three-year waiting period to apply for a waiver for state innovation is not a reasonable requirement, and states should be allowed to request a waiver for state innovation by January 1, 2013, the date by which a state is otherwise required to demonstrate readiness to implement a health insurance exchange; and

     WHEREAS, allowing states to experiment with alternative approaches to achieving the goals of increasing access to health care services and containing health care costs can only strengthen the goals of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico congressional delegation be urged to actively seek to amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to remove the 2017 date for states to request waivers of innovation; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the amendment clarify that states be permitted to apply for state waivers of innovation by January 1, 2013; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the members of the New Mexico congressional delegation and the governor. 

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