Contact: Erika Martinez
(505)986-4263
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 11, 2014
Senate Public Affairs Committee Prompts Compromise for Hospital Solvency
Santa Fe, NM – Today, the Senate Public Affairs committee created a substitute bill for Senate Bills 314, 368 and 268, designed to allow counties to come up with funding solutions to cover Medicaid and Medicare cuts to statewide hospitals. Committee members stated that there would be no change on the status of the bills until a compromise is reached that allows quality rural healthcare to be provided without passing the cost onto county taxpayers.
“These bills will be staying in this committee until we can come up with a reasonable and responsible compromise position that does not place the burden of keeping hospitals open on the taxpayer or deny critical care to New Mexicans who need it most,” said Senator Jacob Candelaria (D-26-Bernalillo).
According to an article in the Albuquerque Journal, the Human Services Department (HSD) and the New Mexico Hospital Association proposed that rural hospitals outside of Bernalillo County receive $36 million from a one-eighth percent gross receipts tax through imposition of local tax at the county level. Funding packages that hospitals are proposing include $36 million from gross receipts tax, about $10 million in state funds, and federal funds subject to state and county funding. This plan would generate approximately $192 million statewide. The current impasse stems from the Human Services Department’s unwillingness to insert compensatory funding into their budget request.
“The current debate is whether counties should make up for the lack of funding to hospitals through a new tax or an existing revenue source, which would take away from current, necessary services being offered,” Senator Tim Keller (D-17-Bernalillo) said. “Hospitals and state and local governments need to share the responsibility of assuring these hospitals stick around to offer quality care. New Mexicans need to be able to trust their governments to do the right thing without sacrificing their health and their earnings.”
###