{"id":3505,"date":"2008-07-29T10:42:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-29T16:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/07\/work-with-the-private-sector-to-improve-health-care\/"},"modified":"2008-07-29T10:42:00","modified_gmt":"2008-07-29T16:42:00","slug":"work-with-the-private-sector-to-improve-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/07\/work-with-the-private-sector-to-improve-health-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Work with the private sector to improve health care"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Dan Foley<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

As the citizens of the great State of New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> prepare themselves for yet another special session, I thought maybe we should actually talk a little about the health care \u201ccrisis\u201d facing our state.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Over the last few years we\u2019ve heard a lot of talk about the number of uninsured in this state, and there\u2019s been considerable debate about that number. Advocates of universal care repeatedly state that there are 400,000 uninsured New Mexicans. What they don\u2019t tell you is that roughly half, or 200,000 of those, are currently eligible for some state or federal program but have chosen not to sign up for them.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure there will be a few folks who will tell you that\u2019s because people don\u2019t know about the programs. But if you have driven around our state, you know from billboards, radio and TV ads in every region that probably isn\u2019t true either.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In fact we spend a considerable amount of your tax dollars on this kind of \u201coutreach.\u201d It is a fair question to ask: Does this kind of advertising count as \u201cadministrative costs?\u201d Would it be fair to limit that kind of expense in the same way that many advocates of government health care want to limit the administrative costs in the private sector?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A \u2018small math error?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I digress though. The point is that we can\u2019t even agree on the number of uninsured. How can you expect us to agree on the solution? The state hired a company — at huge cost to the taxpayers — to come here and tell us what all of this (universal health care) would cost. After a long, drawn-out process they came up with a figure, only to show up days before the last session to tell us their math was wrong. They told us we had to throw out their published study and substitute new numbers they had just decided were more accurate, just because we should trust them.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

This whole incident seemed suspicious. You see, what they had come in with in their original study showed that the goals of the government health-care advocates required a staggering, budget-busting expenditure. Their shift almost made you wonder if someone had gotten to them and said, \u201cYou have to lower the cost estimates for universal care, otherwise the whole discussion will come to a halt.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Forgive me, but that seems a more plausible explanation for this incident than their testimony that they had just made a \u201csmall math error.\u201d In any case, this points to the importance of really knowing how many people are truly uninsured. We have to recognize that many of the so-called uninsured are simply not applying for programs they are in fact eligible for. We also have to know that a number of folks self-insure, pay cash or trade for their health care, or just plain don\u2019t want to pay for insurance at all.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The number of truly uninsured is an all-important question for this reason: Government-provided health care is what the courts in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> call an \u201centitlement program.\u201d Once you start it, you can\u2019t just up and decide to cut it later. We have to be sure that we don\u2019t start a program that encourages the people actually paying for insurance to drop theirs and get on the government plan. Unfortunately, it appears that is the direction we are headed.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

This really isn\u2019t a partisan question. I can assure you everyone wants everyone to have health-care coverage. Heck, even the insurance companies want you to have coverage. That\u2019s how they make their money.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Find the barriers, work with the professionals<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But studying this issue helps you see yet another of the true differences between the two major political parties in New Mexico<\/st1:state> and in the United States<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>. One party wants to look to the private sector for solutions that have minimal disruption for those who currently have coverage. This approach respects the right of business to make a profit, allowing them to afford to be good corporate citizens. They also respect the right to choose — to allow taxpayers to make their own health-care decisions.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The other party thinks the government alone has all the answers and that a cookie cutter approach — a one-size-fits-all model — can be applied everywhere to everybody.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Folks, I\u2019m here to tell you the health-care needs in Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> differ from those in Questa. And the health care needs of Dexter are quite different from those in Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Is it completely logical to say that the very organization that has \u201ccorrectly funded and administered\u201d our schools, \u201cfixed our roads,\u201d or \u201cresolved the water problems\u201d in this state actually has all the answers for health care? Or is it more logical to ask, \u201cDoes New Mexico state government really have a great record in all these areas?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I think you get the point. Let\u2019s work with the private sector to first find out what the real barriers to covering all New Mexicans are. Then let\u2019s see how we can work with the people who do this every day, so we don\u2019t end up working against them. Only then can we begin to \u201cfix\u201d the \u201ccrisis\u201d facing our state.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Foley<\/a> is the outgoing minority whip in the New Mexico House of Representatives and a Republican from Chaves<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dan Foley As the citizens of the great State of New Mexico prepare themselves for yet another special session, I thought maybe we should actually talk a little about the health care \u201ccrisis\u201d facing our state. Over the last few years we\u2019ve heard a lot of talk about the number of uninsured in this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}