The economic crisis: an investment opportunity

Posted 1/02/2009 06:00:00 AM

The Health Security Act is a safe investment the state needs to make

By Jane Blume

We are facing the greatest economic crisis since the depression. Unemployment is increasing, health costs are rising, families are financially strapped, and in 2009 our state Legislature must deal with expanding costs along with a huge deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars.

A key factor in the financial problems faced by the Big Three automakers and other businesses is the ever-rising cost of health care. These expenses are also impacting our state budget, which is confronted with increasing health-care expenditures for Medicaid programs and state and local government employees and retirees. These rising costs are putting pressure, once again, on our state lawmakers to decide how to maintain a healthy population with fewer financial resources, while at the same time allocating sufficient funds for education and other state obligations.

Over the years, millions of New Mexico taxpayer dollars have been spent to try to reduce the number of uninsured; yet, not only are large numbers of residents still not covered, but those who have coverage are feeling the pinch as well.

New Mexico businesses, large and small, are seriously impacted. The more premiums rise, the less revenue there is to invest in economic growth and jobs, and the harder it is to cover the health-care needs of employees. Current policies that rely on our private insurance system have not only clearly failed, but are a festering sore in our sick economy.

Now more than ever, New Mexico needs to invest in a real universal health-care solution that will not only guarantee health coverage and provide health security, but will also reduce rising health-care costs.

The clock is ticking, and the time has come for the Legislature to step up to the plate and pass the Health Security Act.

It would reduce health-care costs

Under the act, New Mexico will be able to create its own cooperative health insurance plan with freedom of choice of doctor and comprehensive services. Most New Mexicans would be covered under this one plan, simplifying what has become an enormously complex administrative system for providers.

In essence, the establishment of such a plan shifts the role of our private insurance to a supplemental one, just as Medicare did when it was created. In a state with a small population and limited resources, that makes a lot of economic sense.

And economic sense is precisely what was demonstrated in the final report of a 2007 study that was commissioned by Gov. Richardson: namely, that the health security proposal is the only plan that reduces health-care costs up to $200 million in the first year of operation. An earlier study conducted in New Mexico in 1994 came to the same conclusion: Covering all or most state residents in one health risk pool saves an enormous amount of money over time.

In addition to saving money and ensuring comprehensive health coverage for New Mexicans, passage of the Health Security Act decreases pressures on the state’s general fund and frees up dollars that can be spent on education, the environment and economic development.

Given these volatile economic times, the Health Security Act is a safe investment. Once it is passed, the first year focuses on the cost and affordability of the plan. The Legislative Finance Committee (whose meetings are open to the public) would be in charge of providing a cost and financing analysis that must be voted on at a subsequent session and approved by the governor. The two-year development phase of the plan, again with public input, will only go forward should the plan prove to be affordable. Thus, the plan’s cooperative governance structure would only be set up after the financing is approved.

The careful process outlined in the Health Security Act means that the first year would only require that the Legislature pay for the cost analysis.

It has major public support

Not only is the Health Security Act a safe and vitally needed investment, but it also is the only proposal that has major public support. Some 139 diverse organizations around the state, as well as 30 cities and counties, have endorsed it. This groundswell of support comes with the recognition that this well-thought-out plan was created by New Mexicans for New Mexicans and developed over years of consulting with thousands of diverse people and groups throughout our state.

Given the cost savings, the simplification of a complex system, the guaranteed health coverage, the economic benefits, the small investment required and the enormous public support to take this important step, there is really no excuse to wait any longer. I urge readers to learn more about the Health Security Act by visiting our Web site, nmhealthsecurity.org, or by calling us at (505) 897-1803.

For the Health Security Act to become a reality, it’s important for everyone to contact their legislators and ask them to vote for it.

Blume is the owner and principal of the Albuquerque-based public relations firm Desert Sky Communications. She has been the media-relations consultant to the Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign since 1998.