Health Care
Health Care
Health care is a fundamental human right, as is a robust public health system and resources to support it. Regardless of their circumstance, everyone in New Mexico and the U.S. should have access to comprehensive, affordable, high-quality health care in conjunction with comprehensive behavioral health services and reproductive care, including access to birth control, quality prenatal and postpartum care, and abortion care.
We Affirm:
1. The health care sector should be a publicly funded service that is provided to all people regardless of their ability
to pay. A majority of New Mexicans are already on a form of publicly funded health care, including Medicare,
Medicaid, Indian Health Services, and Veterans Administration; and
2. Medicare, Medicaid, contracted agencies, and the state of New Mexico should be allowed to negotiate for lower
drug prices; and
3. The U.S. health care system is underdeveloped. The U.S. pays more for health insurance, has statistically worse
health care outcomes, and is the only country among the developed nations in the world to not provide publicly
funded health care; and
4. All health care services should be culturally and linguistically appropriate. Neither fear nor immigration status
should be barriers that impede health care access; and
5. Public health facilities and services should be available to all people within a reasonable distance, including those
living in rural and sparsely populated, geographically isolated communities; and
6. That rural communities and communities of color suffer health care disparities because of difficulties in
maintaining a local health care workforce through education, recruitment, and retention of qualified health care
providers; and
7. We value science and we will appropriate state money toward public investment in research, development, and
innovation that creates life-saving drugs, public health training, improved technologies and procedures; and
8. Addiction is a disease and should be treated as such; and
9. Congress should fully fund the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and provide oversight of that agency to
ensure generic- and foreign-drug applications are reviewed according to science and the interests of people.
Procedures for reviewing applications should be standardized, transparent, and free from industry lobbying; and
10. High-quality, affordable, comprehensive health care, evidence-based sex education, and a full range of family
planning services help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions; and
11. All people in New Mexico deserve access to high-quality health care through public health measures, including
prevention services for diseases and other conditions that can lead to negative health impacts; and
12. That during public health emergencies mandates are necessary to protect the people, the state, the nation, and their
interests; and
13. Collective action and individual responsibility play key roles as public health agencies work to prevent, contain,
and eradicate contagious disease; and
14. That tools to prevent, contain, and eradicate contagious disease should be free to all people without question and
without requiring identification; and
15. That public health measures require proactive collaboration with all health providers, especially those who work
with underserved populations; and
16. That adequate investment in public health programs to prevent the spread of contagious disease, ensure adequate
supplies during public health emergencies, and to provide means for all people to practice good hygiene is good
for public health, business, and the economy.
We Will:
1. Support the New Mexico Health Security Act, which enables New Mexico to set up our own health plan,
automatically covering the majority of New Mexicans with comprehensive coverage and freedom of choice of
provider; and
2. Support health care through a federal, single-payer, government-sponsored health care program like Medicare for
All, which includes behavioral health, dental, vision, and hearing coverage, as well as alternative health care; and
3. Pass policies that allow the negotiation of prices with hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical
companies; and
4. Improve preventive care by promoting physical activity and healthy living and improving access to fresh and
nutritious foods; and
5. Pass strict laws to control drug prices; for example, ending delays that keep generic drugs off the market and
prevent the purchase of appropriate drugs from other countries; and
6. Decriminalize the medical condition known as addiction; and
7. Restore and expand access to drug- and alcohol-addiction treatment services, require coverage for those services
by insurance companies, and invest in evidence-based addiction recovery and prevention services to combat our
deadly opioid and methamphetamine crises; and
8. Strongly and unequivocally support the decision to have a child, including by ensuring a safe and healthy
pregnancy and childbirth, and by providing services during pregnancy and after the birth of a child, including
postpartum care and paid parental leave, affordable childcare, adoption, and social support services, as well as
protections against pregnancy discrimination; and
9. Support funding for Planned Parenthood and other providers that provide full and safe access to the entire
spectrum of health options, including safe and legal abortion; women’s cancer prevention, screening, and
treatment; and routine physical exams, vaccinations, and screenings for common health conditions; and
10. Treat behavioral health with the same importance, care, and resources with which we treat physical health.
Support a robust behavioral health care workforce and promote better integrated health, which includes behavioral
health and the destigmatization of patients who have received behavioral health treatment; and
11. Provide coverage for autism support services and lift the age limit and financial caps for treatment; and
12. Support allowing health care providers to decide on conditions treatable with medical cannabis; and
13. Support research into the use of experimental therapies (e.g., psilocybin, ketamine, MDMA, and LSD) in
behavioral health; and
14. Support fulfilling the federal government’s trust responsibility to fund all Indian Health Services; and
15. Offer incentives for highly qualified health care professionals to work in rural areas and lower-income
communities through increased pay, tax breaks, and access to free training and education. Empower members of
New Mexico’s communities to serve their communities after receiving health care education; and
16. Address the pay disparity between private and public health care providers; and
17. Support home health care services, particularly for the disabled, seniors, and elders on tribal land; and
18. Support policies and initiatives to provide the resources and training needed to make family caregiving more
feasible, affordable, and effective; and
19. Renew and expand our commitment to community healthcare workers (CHW), certified peer support workers
(CPSW), community health centers, community behavioral health and addiction treatment centers, family
planning centers, and school-based health centers;
20. Pursue public health policies addressing the link between poor health and poverty, unemployment, discrimination,
and housing instability; and
21. Deliver health care services to rural communities via visiting health care providers, providing free public
transportation to regional medical health care facilities, and delivering diagnostic services via telehealth; and
22. Support that the Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) board, which provides health care to retirees,
remains an elected board; and
23. Urge legislation and action that broadly, freely, and anonymously distributes tools, testing, and resources to
prevent, contain, and eradicate contagious disease; and
24. Participate in programs that are geared toward the global prevention, containment, and eradication of contagious
disease.
