Senate Health & Public Affairs Committee Passes SB 80!
Senate Health & Public Affairs Committee takes up SB 80
Senate Bill 80, a $1.5 million appropriation bill introduced by Sen. Ortiz y Pino and Sen. Pope to continue the Health Security Plan design process, was heard on Wednesday night by the Senate Health & Public Affairs Committee. The bill passed easily, on a 5-2 vote!
SB 80 now heads to Senate Finance. We will let you know as soon as it's scheduled to be heard.
Wednesday's Senate floor session ran quite late, pushing the Health & Public Affairs Committee start time from 1:30 to 4:00. The discussion about Health Security began more than two hours later with some introductory remarks by bill sponsor Sen. Ortiz y Pino, followed by a report from Superintendent of Insurance Russell Toal. The committee then took up SB 80 and heard testimony from several supporters.
A recording of the entire committee meeting is available online, and the part about Health Security begins at 6:16 PM. (Dragging the horizontal slider below the Play button will allow you to skip right to 6:16.)
Initial Reports from Design Process to be Ready Next Week
Superintendent of Insurance Russell Toal presents via Zoom
Joining the committee hearing via Zoom, Superintendent Toal reported on a number of the findings from the research conducted over the past few months by several nationally recognized experts, including two highly regarded experts in New Mexico: Beth Landon, formerly of the New Mexico Hospital Association, and Dr. Jim Peach, of New Mexico State University. He also discussed some possible options stemming from the completed research—which is what the design process is all about.
We were excited to hear from Superintendent Toal that his office plans to release the consultants' reports early next week. They will be posted to the agency's website. We will, of course, have much more to share once the reports are up!
We truly appreciate the time and attention that the superintendent and his office have given to this initial research. This is just the beginning of the process, and it's clear that much more research is needed.