House Bill 2, the state’s budget bill, is quickly moving through the legislative process and is scheduled for debate on the House Floor tomorrow, February 3.
Alarmingly, a major problem with the bill is it would divert nearly $34 million away from low wage workers and families who need access to healthcare coverage. We need to act quickly to get it fixed!
We need your help to contact the governor and legislative leaders to ask them to fix HB 2 and keep the Healthcare Affordability Fund intact!
We cannot go backward now. After years of fighting for healthcare for all, our communities had a monumental victory in 2021 when the Legislature created the Healthcare Affordability Fund to make health plans on BeWellNM more affordable for families and small businesses and to provide insurance options to workers and families who can’t get Medicaid or BeWellNM insurance.
With the Healthcare Affordability Fund in place, New Mexico finally has the funding in place to make affordable healthcare available to all New Mexicans! But the current version of HB 2 would prevent thousands of New Mexicans from getting healthcare coverage! Instead, it would send the funds to other programs that should be funded with the state’s massive budget surplus this year–not from money set aside to expand healthcare to all New Mexicans!
The future of affordable healthcare for New Mexicans is at risk and we have to protect it!
Who to contact
- Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham: (505) 476-2200, email via https://www.governor.state.nm.us/contact-the-governor/
- Speaker Brian Egolf: (505) 986-4782, brian.egolf@nmlegis.gov
Summary of HB 2 Problem
In the current version of HB 2, the state would take nearly $34 million away from workers and families who need access to health insurance, and use it on other programs that should instead be funded with the state’s substantial budget surplus.
What you might say in your email or call
- Thank them for their work on the Healthcare Affordability Fund and explain that you are contacting them about House Bill 2’s use of the Healthcare Affordability Fund’s money.
- Urge the governor or speaker to fix HB 2 and put money back to the Healthcare Affordability Fund where it belongs.
- Explain that the law states that the Healthcare Affordability Fund was created to help uninsured New Mexicans and must be used for that purpose. Including a personal story about what it would mean for you, your family, or your community to have access to healthcare is most effective.
- Explain $34 million should not be taken away from workers and families who need access to health insurance.
