SENATE MEMORIAL 4

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

INTRODUCED BY

Dede Feldman

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE GOVERNOR TO RECOGNIZE THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF THE FEDERAL PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT OF 2010 AND TO AGGRESSIVELY IMPLEMENT THE PROVISIONS OF THE ACT IN THE STATE.

     WHEREAS, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, also called the ACA, was enacted into law in 2010 and will provide greater access to health care for New Mexicans; and

     WHEREAS, according to the nonpartisan congressional budget office, the ACA will reduce the federal deficit by one hundred forty-three billion dollars ($143,000,000,000) in the first ten years and by more than one trillion dollars ($1,000,000,000,000) in the second ten years; and

     WHEREAS, according to the federal center for consumer information and insurance oversight, the state has received, as of June 9, 2011, over one hundred five million dollars ($105,000,000) in ACA grants to public, private and tribal entities; and

     WHEREAS, the Kaiser family foundation reports that New Mexico has one of the highest rates of uninsured residents and uncompensated care in the nation; and

     WHEREAS, the high rate of uninsured individuals and uncompensated care in New Mexico places an added cost burden on businesses that provide health insurance for their employees; and

     WHEREAS, the nonpartisan urban institute reports that, nationwide, local governments will save one hundred seventy-two million dollars ($172,000,000) to three hundred forty-four million dollars ($344,000,000) in uncompensated care costs due to the provisions of the ACA; and

     WHEREAS, the ACA provides that children can no longer be denied insurance because of a preexisting condition; and

     WHEREAS, the ACA provides that young adults can remain on their parents' insurance policies until the age of twenty-six; and

     WHEREAS, the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services reports that so far this year, thanks to the ACA, nearly nineteen million medicare beneficiaries nationwide have used preventive services at no cost to them and that nearly one million three hundred thousand people nationwide have received a fifty percent discount on their brand name prescription drugs when they hit the "donut hole" coverage gap, saving a total of six hundred sixty million dollars ($660,000,000); and

     WHEREAS, the ACA will close the medicare donut hole prescription coverage gap entirely by 2020; and

     WHEREAS, through the reinsurance program established in the ACA, the federal department of health and human services reports that New Mexico businesses, including Los Alamos national security, PNM resources, the Sandia corporation, the university of New Mexico, the public school insurance authority and the retiree health care authority have received, as of March 31, 2011, over eight million six hundred thousand dollars ($8,600,000) in subsidies to cover their early retirees for whom it had been difficult to purchase quality, affordable coverage; and

     WHEREAS, the office of United States Senator Jeff Bingaman reports that the ACA will enable three hundred fifteen thousand of the four hundred forty-four thousand currently uninsured adults in New Mexico to get health insurance coverage; and

     WHEREAS, the nonpartisan congressional budget office reports that New Mexico businesses and individuals will benefit from a new health care insurance exchange that will provide a competitive marketplace for health insurance plans; and

     WHEREAS, the nonpartisan congressional budget office reports that ACA health insurance subsidies will result in premiums for some that are fifty-six percent to fifty-nine percent lower than current costs; and

     WHEREAS, the human services department estimates that the state general fund share of medicaid expansion during the years 2014 to 2020 will cost as much as seven hundred ninety-seven million dollars ($797,000,000); and

     WHEREAS, economist Dr. Kelly O'Donnell estimates that new state tax revenue from existing taxes will be as much as one billion two hundred million dollars ($1,200,000,000), which is more than enough to cover the state's share of medicaid expansion; and

     WHEREAS, the federal internal revenue service estimates that nearly twenty-six thousand small businesses in New Mexico that together employ more than one hundred thousand people and are often unable to afford to offer health insurance to their employees will now be able to do so because of tax credits that will subsidize up to fifty percent of the employer's share of health insurance premiums; and

     WHEREAS, the nonpartisan congressional budget office reports that passage of the ACA means that businesses receiving a tax credit and their employees are expected to see a decrease in health coverage premiums of about eight percent to eleven percent compared with such costs without health care reform; and

     WHEREAS, the United States public interest research group estimates that by reducing employer-borne health care costs, reform is expected to create one thousand three hundred to two thousand jobs in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, the human services department estimates that the ACA will bring as much as thirteen billion three hundred million dollars ($13,300,000,000) in federal funding to New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, Dr. O'Donnell estimates that the federal funds that the ACA brings into the state will generate as much as twenty-one billion four hundred million dollars ($21,400,000,000) in new economic activity; and

     WHEREAS, Dr. O'Donnell estimates that the ACA will generate between thirty-eight thousand and forty-seven thousand new jobs in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, economist Dr. Kelly O'Donnell estimates that new local tax revenue from existing taxes will be as much as two hundred thirty-three million dollars ($233,000,000) during the years 2014 to 2020;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the governor be requested to aggressively implement the ACA to maximize the benefits of the ACA for the health of New Mexicans and the New Mexico economy; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor and the director of the New Mexico office of health care reform.

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