Not ALL policymakers want to address New Mexico’s medical provider shortage

New Mexico’s health care provider shortage remains a critical issue for our State. RGF’s president recently interviewed Fred Nathan of Think New Mexico on the subject and RGF has its own recommendations about addressing the shortage which can be found here.

There are numerous things that need to be done, but politicians in New Mexico are not all on board with solving the issue. Check out this letter to the editor written by the head of New Mexico’s Medical Association. 

Check out this paragraph:

During a recent presentation to the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee, I presented innovative solutions to the physician shortage, ranging from the elimination of prior authorization requirements to the creation of a Medicaid trust to secure care for generations to come. Instead of exploring those solutions, state Rep. Eleanor Chavez demanded to know my personal salary and my practice’s gross income. To make matters worse, when presented with data that New Mexico is the only state to have lost physicians in recent years, state Rep. Liz Thomson proclaimed the data is “propaganda.” Patients can assure Thomson that the data is very real. The following day, Thomson questioned how much physicians spend on wine.

Sadly, this kind of jealousy and ignorance is common in New Mexico among the “progressives” who dominate our Legislature and other elected bodies. We will be working this session to address the medical provider shortage. Hopefully the other “progressives” in Santa Fe are more willing to play nice.