Fiscal Analysis Update
As you know, in November the Legislative Finance Committee selected KNG Health Consulting, Dr. Lee Reynis (former executive director of UNM's Bureau of Business and Economic Research, or BBER), and IHS Markit to conduct the fiscal analysis of the Health Security Plan. (IHS Markit is a London-based global information provider, and BBER has used its services for many years to help with projected costs.)
On December 4, the Legislative Finance Committee staff held a public meeting in Albuquerque and introduced the lead consultant, KNG Health Consulting, to those in attendance.
The president of KNG, Dr. Lane Koenig, explained how the group would approach the fiscal analysis. He noted that Dr. Lee Reynis would be very much involved in the study "every step of the way." (This is critical, since KNG is based in Maryland and has not had any experience in our state.) Dr. Koenig also made it very clear that KNG's role was to engage in a fiscal analysis of the Health Security Act and not come up with other models. KNG's slide presentation from the meeting is available here.
The meeting was well attended--by Health Security supporters, legislators, government agencies and other interested parties . . . and by insurance industry representatives.
Senate Public Affairs Committee chair and Health Security Act sponsor Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino stated that he had great hopes that the results of this analysis would be acted on by the legislature (unlike the two other studies conducted in New Mexico). Rep. Bill Pratt, who was so instrumental in acquiring legislative funding to ensure that a fiscal analysis of the Health Security Plan would be conducted, pointed out how vital this analysis is for our state.
The chair of our Campaign, Max Bartlett, provided KNG with important background information about the Campaign and the Health Security Act, which since 1993 has received input from diverse New Mexicans from all parts of the state.
Our executive director, Mary Feldblum, then described her years of experience as an academic and her almost three decades of intensive review of numerous state and federal studies on universal health coverage plans. To help guide KNG, she provided a list of the fixed assumptions of the Health Security Plan (such as who is included) that need to be costed out.
She also gave examples of assumptions that are less clear, such as whether the federal government will allow our state to include Medicare recipients (who, of course, would not lose any of their rights). To account for situations like this, KNG will have to cost out one scenario that assumes Medicare recipients are in the Plan and another one that does not make that assumption. (The contract with KNG requires scenarios where the assumptions are not straightforward.) Mary subsequently submitted more detailed written comments to be passed along to KNG.
One question that was raised toward the end of the meeting was whether more public meetings were planned. Legislative Finance Committee staff member Ruby Ann Esquibel explained that the next public meeting is scheduled for April, when a preliminary report from KNG will be presented. The final report is due by the end of June. All materials available to legislators at these meetings will be provided to the public. In addition, the public will have an opportunity to make comments.
Key dates:
April 15, 2020: Preliminary report presented to the Legislative Finance Committee
May-June 2020: Presentations to Legislative Interim Committees (Legislative Finance Committee and Legislative Health and Human Services Committee)
June 15, 2020: Draft final report
June 30, 2020: Final report
Making National News
Our media coordinator, Donna Dowell, sent out a press release in early December that inspired an AP reporter to write about the fiscal analysis.
The article not only made it into the Albuquerque Journal, Santa Fe New Mexican, Los Alamos Monitor, and Taos News but was printed in many media sources around the country, including US News and World Report, Miami Herald, Chicago Tribune, and Houston Chronicle!