HOUSE MEMORIAL 20
53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2018
INTRODUCED BY
Elizabeth "Liz" Thomson and Deborah A. Armstrong
A MEMORIAL
REQUESTING THE SUPERINTENDENT OF INSURANCE TO CONVENE AN INDIVIDUAL HEALTH INSURANCE MARKET STABILITY TASK FORCE TO RESEARCH OPTIONS TO STRENGTHEN THE STABILITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL HEALTH INSURANCE MARKET AND MAINTAIN AND INCREASE ENROLLMENT IN HIGH-QUALITY, AFFORDABLE HEALTH COVERAGE; REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TO CHARGE THE LEGISLATIVE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE WITH RECEIVING TESTIMONY FROM THE INDIVIDUAL HEALTH INSURANCE MARKET STABILITY TASK FORCE AND FROM CONSUMERS, INSURERS, STATE AGENCIES AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS IN THE INDIVIDUAL HEALTH INSURANCE MARKET DURING THE 2018 INTERIM.
WHEREAS, according to the commonwealth fund, New Mexico experienced the largest percentage reduction in uninsured residents in the nation between 2013 and 2016, with the rate of uninsured individuals dropping from twenty-eight percent to thirteen percent; and
WHEREAS, approximately seventy thousand New Mexicans rely on the private individual health insurance market for their health care; and
WHEREAS, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or "Affordable Care Act", guarantees that consumers cannot be discriminated against on the basis of health status; and
WHEREAS, the legislative finance committee reported in 2015 that the Affordable Care Act has led to a precipitous drop in uncompensated care in the state; and
WHEREAS, the actions of the United States congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act's requirement that most individuals have health coverage may cause insurance market volatility and the loss of health coverage; and
WHEREAS, a study by the Kaiser family foundation found that forty-two percent of those who remain uninsured nationwide would qualify for coverage under a bronze plan on a health insurance exchange, which is available with no premium; and
WHEREAS, the Kaiser family foundation study found that fifty-four percent of uninsured individuals nationwide would qualify for a health plan on a health insurance exchange that would cost less than the penalty the individual mandate would have imposed; and
WHEREAS, a study commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson foundation and academy health found that state-based automatic enrollment systems may be a viable approach that would increase the number of people with health coverage and stabilize state individual health insurance markets; and
WHEREAS, other states have begun to develop policy changes to stabilize insurance markets and maintain access to care; and
WHEREAS, introduction of short-term plans and association health plans pursuant to newly enacted federal law may fragment New Mexico's individual health insurance market and undermine key consumer protections; and
WHEREAS, the Trump administration has indicated that it will stop reimbursing health insurance carriers for discounts on copayments and deductibles, known as "cost-sharing reduction payments", that the Affordable Care Act requires the carriers to offer to low-income consumers; and
WHEREAS, as the Affordable Care Act's provisions still require health insurance carriers to provide health coverage discounts to low-income customers, health insurance carriers will recover the loss of federal cost-sharing reduction payments by charging the rest of the health insurance market higher premiums; and
WHEREAS, individual market health insurance premiums have increased thirty-four percent for the 2018 plan year in New Mexico; and
WHEREAS, enrollment in health coverage through New Mexico's health insurance exchange has dropped seven and one-half percent during the open enrollment period for 2018 plan-year coverage; and
WHEREAS, the office of superintendent of insurance conservatively projects that for every one percent increase in health insurance premium rates, the individual market will shed approximately two hundred insureds;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the superintendent of insurance be requested to convene an individual health insurance market stability task force to research options for strengthening the stability of the individual health insurance market and for maintaining and increasing enrollment in high-quality, affordable health coverage; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the individual health insurance market stability task force be requested to explore alternative models to the shared responsibility provision of the Affordable Care Act, including automatic or default health coverage enrollment and the potential ramifications for meaningful access to high-quality, affordable health coverage that changes in federal statutes and regulations may have; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico legislative council be requested to charge the legislative health and human services committee with receiving the recommendations of the individual insurance market stability task force by November 1, 2018, as well as receiving testimony from stakeholders in the individual health insurance market during the 2018 interim; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the office of superintendent of insurance be requested to invite representatives from among individual health insurance market consumers; the human services department and other state agencies; the New Mexico health insurance exchange; New Mexico health insurers; the taxation and revenue department; the health care consumer advocacy community; and health care providers to participate in the individual health insurance market stability task force and to provide 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 co-chairs of the New Mexico legislative council, the governor, the chair and vice chair of the legislative health and human services committee, the superintendent of insurance, the secretary of human services and the chief executive officer of the New Mexico health insurance exchange.
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