NM Interim Health & Human Services Committee Endorses Health Security Act by 10-1 Vote

From the Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign:
The New Mexico State Legislature's Interim Health & Human Services Committee endorsed the Health Security Act yesteray afternoon by a vote of 10-1, on a motion made by State Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino (D-Albuquerque).

This was the last scheduled meeting of the Interim Committee before the regular legislative session begins in January of 2008.

The Committee did not consider endorsing Governor Bill Richardson's universal health care proposal.

The Health Security Act has also been endorsed by 132 diverse organizations statewide, and by 27 New Mexico municipalities and counties, including Albuquerque and Las Cruces and Bernalillo and Dona Ana counties.

The Health Security Act sets up a health insurance cooperative that guarantees health coverage for most New Mexicans regardless of employment, economic or health status. It guarantees choice of doctor (even across state lines), a comprehensive benefit package, and would be run by an independent, non-governmental, geographically representative Commission.

The role of private insurance companies would be shifted to provide supplementary insurance, just as they did under the original Medicare.

Click to read more about the Health Security Act or Governor Richardson's universal health care proposal.