HM 60

Page 1

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE

TO CONSIDER A COORDINATED, COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF INNOVATIVE

HEALTH CARE REFORM INITIATIVES.

WHEREAS, health care expenditures continue to impact

state and federal budgets as well as the cost of goods and

services; and

WHEREAS, every individual carries a responsibility for

that individual's health care management through wellness and

prevention measures; and

WHEREAS, chronic problems such as obesity, hypertension,

diabetes and depression are often preventable or at least

treatable at an early stage; and

WHEREAS, wellness and prevention programs can lead to

lifestyle behavior changes that are key to decreasing health

care costs; and

WHEREAS, use of tobacco products continues to impact

health care costs adversely while tobacco settlement proceeds

are used on initiatives other than tobacco research and

cessation programs; and

WHEREAS, employers and employees continue to pay rising

insurance premiums, often to offset uncompensated care costs

and lower public program reimbursement levels; and

WHEREAS, tax incentives can provide initiatives for

HM 60

Page 2

employers, employees and individuals to obtain appropriate

insurance for broad or specialized coverage as well as to

increase coverage and thus spread the risk among larger groups

of insured individuals; and

WHEREAS, the number of health care profession graduates

from New Mexico colleges and universities has not kept pace

with the attrition of health care professionals or with the

demands of a growing population; and

WHEREAS, primary care clinics throughout the state

provide an invaluable service for patients with limited or no

access or coverage in rural and underserved areas; and

WHEREAS, consumer-driven, market-based health care

reform efforts provide initiatives that can be more readily

implemented and tested than public programs requiring

extensive legislative or rulemaking procedures; and

WHEREAS, information technology and telecommunications

offer an ability to streamline billing; claims processing;

reimbursement; medical records storage and retrieval; and

electronic prescriptions, databases and registries; as well as

health care delivery and interfaces to remote and underserved

areas; and

WHEREAS, the joint state-federal medicaid program

continues to take a disproportionate amount of state and

federal budget expenditures without a corresponding

improvement in the health care profile of covered individuals;

HM 60

Page 3

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the

legislative health and human services committee be requested

to review health care reform from a broad perspective that

includes wellness and prevention measures and initiatives;

early diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases; tax

incentives to assist more employers and individuals in

purchasing insurance; expansion of medical school, nursing

school and other health care profession schools to increase

the number of graduates entering the health care work force;

funding for primary health care clinics that provide primary

and preventive care to uninsured persons and in underserved

areas; market-based reforms that provide consumers with

choices that meet their respective needs; development of

information technology resources that increases consistency of

information, claims and reimbursement among payers, providers

and patients; medicaid reforms that recognize the cost-

effectiveness of programs for women and children while

ensuring that the most vulnerable persons, the elderly and

disabled, receive assistance through innovative and effective

programs; and, in conjunction with the tobacco settlement

revenue oversight committee, the study of tobacco-related

illnesses and efforts to reduce tobacco use, particularly

among the youth; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislative health and

HM 60

Page 4

human services committee be requested to provide an

appropriate forum to address these issues in a manner that

allows the committee to consider and recommend broad and

coordinated reform initiatives and work in conjunction with

the tobacco settlement revenue oversight committee to address

tobacco-related issues; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

transmitted to the legislative health and human services

committee and the tobacco settlement revenue oversight

committee.