Critics assail plan as too little, too late
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10/26/2007 -
As a candidate for U.S. president, Gov. Bill Richardson is sometimes reminded by journalists that New Mexico consistently is ranked at the bottom of lists in several areas, including health care and insurance coverage.A recent report by the Washington-based Corporation for Enterprise Development said the state ranks last for people receiving insurance through their employer, next to last for low-income parents with insurance and 44th in uninsured low-income children.
The health-insurance package announced by Richardson on Thursday is an attempt to get more people in the state insured.
With both liberals and conservatives agreeing New Mexico's health-care system is in a state of crisis, some health-care reform activists are wondering why it took Richardson nearly five years to propose a major health insurance plan.
And while Richardson said Thursday that the status quo in health care in New Mexico is "no longer an option," some say the governor's proposals don't go far enough.
Mary Feldblum, executive director of a coalition called Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign, said her group backs a bill that would create a government-run system similar to a "single-payer" concept. "The private insurance system has been a massive failure," she said. "We want to shift the role of private insurance to become supplemental."
Said Feldblum: "The insurance industry is a very powerful lobby."
In fairness to Richardson, Feldblum said, "I don't think any of the national (presidential) candidates have stood up to the insurance industry with their health-care plans, except (Dennis) Kucinich."
So far, insurance companies have contributed $172,358 to Richardson's presidential campaign, according to The Center for Responsive Politics. In New Mexico, insurance companies donated $257,595 to Richardson's 2006 gubernatorial race, according to the Institute of Money in State Government. Insurance companies and their employees dropped more than $375,000 in campaign contributions for all state candidates in the last election cycle.
Feldblum recalled Thursday that she was told earlier this year that there would not be any significant health-insurance reform in the 2007 legislative session.
The bills Feldblum's group backed worked their ways through the committee process. But administration officials told backers of the bill to wait until a study commissioned by a health-insurance task force was completed.
The $300,000 study by Mathematica Policy Research of Washington, D.C., showed the "single-payer" model to be the least expensive of the three models that were considered by the Health Coverage for New Mexicans Committee.
But Richardson has said all along he wouldn't back the single-payer concept. In material released at Richardson's announcement Thursday, the administration argued: "Cost is not the only criteria for determining the best approach to achieve universal coverage for New Mexicans. The governor has consistently stated that he will not support any type of system that does not have a role for the private insurance market. He believes that it would be too disruptive to eliminate their role."
Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com.
