SENATE MEMORIAL 129

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017

INTRODUCED BY

Elizabeth "Liz" Stefanics

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE SUPERINTENDENT OF INSURANCE TO CONVENE A TASK FORCE TO STUDY THE IMPACT ON NEW MEXICO OF A REPEAL OF ANY OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE FEDERAL PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT AND TO MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR STATE HEALTH POLICIES TO MAINTAIN OR EXPAND THE GAINS MADE UNDER THE FEDERAL PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT AND EXPRESSING THE SUPPORT OF THE LEGISLATURE FOR EXPANDED HEALTH CARE COVERAGE, PREVENTION PROGRAMS, CONSUMER PROTECTIONS AND MEASURES TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY AND COST OF CARE DELIVERED IN NEW MEXICO.

     WHEREAS, according to the human services department, due in part to health care coverage expansions pursuant to the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as of fiscal year 2016, the number of New Mexicans without health insurance coverage has dropped by approximately one-half since 2011, with the rate of uninsured individuals currently at ten and two-tenths percent; and 

     WHEREAS, according to the human services department, nearly two hundred sixty thousand New Mexicans have obtained health coverage through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's expansion of medicaid eligibility; and

     WHEREAS, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's medicaid expansion provisions establish an enhanced federal matching rate for state medicaid programs, making medicaid eligibility expansion a boon for the state budget; and

     WHEREAS, in 2015, fifty-two thousand three hundred fifty-eight New Mexico consumers selected, or were automatically re-enrolled in, affordable, high-quality health insurance coverage through the New Mexico health insurance exchange, with fifty-one percent of those consumers enrolling for the first time in 2015; and

     WHEREAS, in 2015, forty-nine percent of New Mexico enrollees in the New Mexico health insurance exchange gained coverage for one hundred dollars ($100) per month or less after any applicable tax credits; and

     WHEREAS, according to the Kaiser family foundation, by March 31, 2016, total health insurance marketplace enrollment in New Mexico was forty-seven thousand four hundred ninety-seven people, of whom sixty-nine percent or thirty-two thousand seven hundred three enrollees received advance premium tax credits in accordance with provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to lower their share of monthly premium costs; and

     WHEREAS, according to the Robert Wood Johnson foundation, medicaid expansion in New Mexico under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has strengthened and stabilized New Mexico's struggling rural hospitals by significantly reducing uncompensated care reimbursements by thirty percent and by helping increase hospitals' net revenue by more than forty percent from 2013 to 2014; and

     WHEREAS, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act guarantees the issuing of health insurance to those with preexisting conditions, and that provision is only economically viable when paired with the individual mandate to purchase insurance; and

     WHEREAS, according to a December 2016 study by the Kaiser family foundation, three hundred thirty-two thousand New Mexicans have conditions that would cause them to be denied health insurance coverage. Although many of that number get coverage through their employer or medicaid, if the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act were repealed, many of those New Mexicans would either fall back into the high-risk pool or go without coverage; and

     WHEREAS, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the human services department centennial care program is currently testing and evaluating health care payment and improved service delivery reform pilots, which, if they prove successful in improving health care quality while lowering costs, can be scaled up to enable New Mexico to sustain an improved health system over a longer time horizon; and

     WHEREAS, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and funded by the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services' innovation center, New Mexico implemented in 2015 and 2016 a statewide stakeholder engagement process and produced a health system innovation design to guide the transformation and improvement of the state's health care and population health system to ensure quality of care and improve delivery while making health care more cost-effective; and

     WHEREAS, because of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, four hundred one thousand New Mexicans with private health insurance have gained preventive service coverage with no cost-sharing; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexicans with medicare have saved approximately seventy million seven hundred fifty-eight thousand dollars ($70,758,000) on prescription drugs due to related provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; and

     WHEREAS, as health insurers must now spend at least eighty cents ($.80) of each premium dollar on health care or care improvement rather than on administrative expenses or provide a refund to those whom they insure, in New Mexico, this has resulted in an average refund of one hundred fifty-eight dollars ($158) per family; and

     WHEREAS, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, New Mexico has received over seven million dollars ($7,000,000) to help fight unreasonable premium increases by health insurance companies; and

     WHEREAS, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has provided financial backing for the creation of consumer operated and oriented plans that enabled the creation of New Mexico health connections, which now provides health insurance coverage to many New Mexicans, particularly in rural areas; and

     WHEREAS, approximately eight hundred sixty-two thousand New Mexicans, including one hundred twenty-two thousand children, are assured of health care coverage since, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, health insurers cannot deny coverage to anyone with a preexisting condition such as diabetes; and

     WHEREAS, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has expanded mental health and substance use disorder benefits for up to four hundred two thousand five hundred New Mexicans; and

     WHEREAS, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has increased funding for community health centers, providing up to one hundred forty-four million five hundred ninety-four thousand seven hundred nineteen dollars ($144,594,719) to those sites in New Mexico to offer a greater range of primary care and preventive services, more providers and expanded hours of operation for up to two hundred ninety thousand two hundred two New Mexicans; and

     WHEREAS, due to federal funding augmentation pursuant to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, New Mexico currently has one hundred ninety-six national health service corps clinicians, an increase from ninety-seven clinicians in 2008, who provide primary care services in underserved areas of the state; and

     WHEREAS, according to a study by the university of New Mexico's bureau of business and economic research, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has helped New Mexico add more than four thousand eight hundred jobs in 2014 alone; and

     WHEREAS, according to a 2016 study by the urban institute, it is estimated that repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would result in New Mexico losing ninety-three million dollars ($93,000,000) of federal marketplace spending in 2019 and one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) between 2019 and 2028 and that New Mexico would lose two billion two hundred million dollars ($2,200,000,000) in federal medicaid spending in 2019 and twenty-six billion nine hundred million dollars ($26,900,000,000) between 2019 and 2028;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that, in the event that any provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are repealed, the superintendent of insurance be requested to convene a task force to study the major economic and health impacts that restructuring or repealing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will have for New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act task force convened by the superintendent of insurance be requested to identify and recommend ways in which the state of New Mexico can take action to assure that the gains made by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act can be maintained or expanded; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the superintendent of insurance be requested to invite to join the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act task force state officials, legislators, health care providers, health consumer advocates, health insurance carriers, representatives from the New Mexico health insurance exchange board of directors and others as the superintendent deems appropriate to accomplishing the goals of the task force; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force be requested to report its findings and recommendations to the governor, the secretary of human services, the secretary of health and the legislative health and human services committee by October 1, 2017; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the senate express its support for expanded health care coverage, prevention programs, consumer protections and measures to improve the quality and cost of care delivered in New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the superintendent of insurance, the secretary of human services, the secretary of health and the legislative health and human services committee.

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