News

House committee approves bill to create unified health care authority
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By Robert Nott, The Santa Fe New Mexican
A bill that would blend several divisions from various state agencies into a new health care authority is moving closer to reality. Members of the House Health and Human Services Committee voted 6-3 along party lines to approve Senate Bill 16, which would allow the state to lay out a plan to rename the Human Services Department as the Health Care Authority Department and add a number of health-related entities from other state agencies.
The refashioned department would be charged with finding and buying the most affordable health care plans for state and public employees and their family members. There are 180,000 public and state members enrolled in the public employee benefit plans who benefit from health insurance offerings negotiated by the state, according to Department of Human Services data.
The legislation — prompted by a call from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to create a state health authority — would not affect health care plans or costs for private or nonprofit businesses or those who work for them.
Bill co-sponsor Sen. Liz Stefanics, D-Cerrillos, told committee members during Friday’s hearing that different departments and divisions within those departments, are purchasing health care plans on their own. “Each entity has the authority to purchase [health care],” she said. “They are not required to act together.