Bill Jordan
New Mexico has more to gain from the Affordable Care Act than almost any state in the country. For the benefit of our children and families, let’s build on this success.
We recently marked the second anniversary of passage of the landmark Affordable Care Act. Like Social Security and Medicare before it, important reforms like the ACA inspire vigorous debate. While there are lots of opinions about the law, there’s no disputing its benefits for New Mexico children.
For example, thanks to the ACA, kids with pre-existing conditions like diabetes and asthma can’t be denied the insurance coverage and care they need. Children all over New Mexico are already getting preventive care like immunizations without out-of-pocket costs, so they can avoid illness, and young people can have a better start at productive adult lives, thanks to the ACA’s guarantee that they can get health care through their parents’ policy until age 26.
More than 20,000 New Mexico young adults have already taken advantage of this benefit.
If federal and state leaders make the right choices, kids will see even more wins in a few years. They’ll be protected against lifetime caps on coverage or benefits, so if a child beats leukemia at age eight, she will still be able to get the care she needs if it returns later in her life.
The Affordable Care Act is going to result in many more New Mexico children getting health coverage. We still have at least 70,000 children in New Mexico with no health insurance. This means they are less likely to get regular check-ups and immunizations. Minor illnesses may turn into major medical problems because their parents may feel they can’t afford to go to the doctor. We all end up paying for these major medical problems through higher insurance premiums and taxes.
This problem will greatly diminish under the ACA. Most of these uninsured children are from lower-income families. Their parents will either qualify for Medicaid, if their income is less than $24,648 per year for a family of three or $29,736 for a family of four, or the whole family will qualify for federal tax credits on a sliding scale to help them buy private insurance on the new state health insurance exchange. Because health insurance is going to become so much more available to parents, children will undoubtedly be enrolled at the same time.
The ACA provides $11 billion for community health centers to allow for nearly a doubling of the number of patients seen over the next four years. We have 64 such centers all over New Mexico, such as First Choice in the Mid-Rio Grande area, which has 11 clinics, and First Nations, which specializes in care for Native Americans.
These community health centers see thousands of pediatric patients every week, helping them stay healthy and dealing with problems while they are still manageable. Under the ACA, the funding for these clinics has already been enhanced and there is more help on the way.
The same is true for school-based health centers, which also serve a vital role and can do more with the extra funding provided by the ACA.
Under the ACA, Medicaid payments for primary care physicians, including pediatricians, will rise to the same levels as Medicare. For the next two years, the federal government will pay all of the extra cost. Ensuring that these incredibly hard-working professionals are paid what they deserve will help ensure that more of them stay in New Mexico and stay in rural and lower-income areas where they are badly needed.
Finally, the ACA will help train more medical professionals specializing in primary care and pediatrics to help meet the shortage that exists in so many parts of New Mexico. Obviously health insurance coverage isn’t much use if there are no doctors or other highly-trained caregivers located near where the patients live. The ACA will help fund this training and makes a significant step toward filling the health care provider gap.
New Mexico has more to gain from the Affordable Care Act than almost any state in the country. For the benefit of our children and families, let’s build on this success.
Bill Jordan is policy director at New Mexico Voices for Children, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advocating for policies to improve the health and well-being of New Mexico’s children, families and communities.