New Mexico lawmakers’ efforts to address the state’s healthcare provider shortage made some progress in the just-completed legislative session, but for many, it wasn’t enough.
One law designed to tackle the challenge, SB-176, would have capped attorney’s fees in medical malpractice, but according to House minority leader Gail Armstrong (Rep., Magdalena), those proposed caps were the reason the measure never received a hearing in a single Democratic-led committee.
“ We all know that New Mexico's healthcare system is on life support, Armstrong said.
"Our current medical malpractice laws are forcing doctors out of this state. The fact that not a single medical malpractice reform was even close to successful just shows the power of the trial attorneys and the hold that they have in the legislature.”
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham touched on the issue at a post-session press conference, arguing that the state is fertile ground for malpractice lawsuits.
“ Just look at the number of malpractice cases that are brought in to New Mexico," Lujan Grisham said.
"Look at these awards and look at the number of law firms coming from out of state to prosecute these cases here. They don't prosecute them unless there's a really easy, different situation in New Mexico. We must address it."
House speaker Javier Martinez, on the other hand, said Saturday a bill that did pass will help by lessening taxes on medical services.
"This legislature, this session did a lot of work to help incentivize more access to healthcare, including through our tax package, where we reduced, or actually, eliminated the gross receipts tax on most healthcare services, including budget investments to grow our own healthcare professionals.”
Lawmakers also proposed a series of interstate compact bills that would have made it possible for patients to more easily see doctors in other states.
House Bill 243 would have paved the way for New Mexico to join 41 other states in the physician compact, and though it made it all the way to the Senate calendar, the chamber never took it up.
Think New Mexico’s Kristina Fisher said in an interview that this is another missed opportunity for the state.
"New Mexico is one of only five states that's in only one or no compact," Fisher said.
"Most states are in many. Colorado is in 10 of these. Arizona's in nine. So you sort of look around at our surrounding states and they're again working with other states to try to make it easier for healthcare workers to come into their states. And we are an outlier by not participating."
There were more than a dozen other bills proposing individual medical specialties for interstate compacts. None of those made it out of committee.
