MLG should do something productive to attract doctors to NM

Gov. Lujan Grisham’s thinly veiled (and ongoing) campaign to pat herself on the back for her radical pro-abortion policies now includes full-page newspaper advertisements run in various Texas papers.  The website Free to Provide contains further details on the program. We have made a public records request to find out how much spending has taken place on this campaign and we’ve requested what should be public information to find out if they have any metrics on the success/failure of the program.

Sadly, as is so often the case, the Gov.’s plan is unlikely to succeed for a number of reasons. Instead, the Gov. and Legislature should consider numerous efforts to improve the legal situation for medical professionals working in New Mexico. Here’s why it is unlikely to succeed:

Medical professionals carefully decide where to base their practice or careers. It MAY be simply because that’s where they grew up, but they have already assessed the pros and cons of the laws in a given state. If they are involved in abortion or passionate about it, they likely have already factored that into their decision making. That being said, there ARE plenty of factors that make New Mexico less competitive in attracting medical professionals.

For starters there are the crime issues which the Gov. herself outlined recently which resulted in a special session in which majority Democrats failed to act. New Mexico’s education system is ranked dead-last in the nation.  If the Gov. doesn’t think terrible crime and education don’t affect doctors’ willingness to relocate to a particular state she may be smoking more of the State’s legalized marijuana than we know. It’s not that New Mexico doesn’t have the money to address these issues. It has had massive budget surpluses in recent years with no impact.

Of course, there are other factors that make New Mexico unattractive for doctors: Nearly 50% of the State is on Medicaid; New Mexico also levies a personal income tax which (due to recent changes) has begun to penalize high income New Mexicans (like doctors) more than previously.

We know that New Mexico is prettier, has better outdoor activities overall, and has better weather than Texas. Of course none of those are the result of government policies. If MLG wants to attract doctors to our state she might want to focus on a few of these issues.