skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Saturday, March 8, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

3 days in, Trump is backtracking on his tariffs on Mexico and Canada; AL faith leaders call for more congressional oversight of Trump team; Court rules MS Legislature not a 'public body,' allows closed-door meetings; WI group pitches in to help voters share views with reps in Congress.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Democrats push back on Trump s order to dismantle the Department of Education, red states aim to deny public education to undocumented children and the Wisconsin Supreme Court election could be the most expensive judicial race in history.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Immigrant communities are getting advice from advocates as the reach of ICE expands, experts in rural America urge lawmakers to ramp up protections against elder abuse, and a multi-state arts projects seeks to close the urban-rural divide.

Health-Care Providers, Advocates Speak Out Against More Cuts to Medicaid

play audio
Play

Tuesday, September 20, 2016   

SANTE FE, N.M. - Health care providers and advocates for children and low-income families are speaking out against any further cuts to Medicaid in advance of the special session on the budget that Governor Susana Martinez is expected to convene shortly. Legislators are facing a projected shortfall of about $325 million.

But Abuko Estrada, staff attorney with the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty said the feds give New Mexico $4 for every $1 we invest in Medicaid. So last year's Medicaid cuts were greatly magnified, and devastating.

"The state is losing $265 million just in federal funds and then state funding was around $67 million short," he said "That's over $330 million lost to the health-care system and economy. So it's nearly a million dollars a day for fiscal year 2017 that's being lost."

Estrada added that since the Affordable Care Act took effect in 2014, 300,000 New Mexicans gained medical coverage. The expansion helped add 4,800 jobs in health care and social assistance and generates hundreds of millions in direct revenue to the state.

Nurse Lorie MacIver BSN, RNC, district president for the Local 1199, which includes the NUHHCE, AFSCME and AFL-CIO unions, says the cuts to doctor reimbursements would exacerbate the current shortage of physicians and hurt patients directly.

"To simply just slash and burn is unacceptable," she said. "It means fewer nurses at the bedside, it means fewer clinics are open, it means there are fewer appointment times. Why would you cut services to the most vulnerable when there are other options?"

Bill Jordan, senior policy adviser and government relations officer for New Mexico Voices for Children, says the state has been on a tax-cutting frenzy over the past few years, and thinks lawmakers ought to raise revenue by rescinding a few of those breaks.

"We've literally given away hundreds of millions of dollars in tax cuts in order to try to generate jobs," he said. "That hasn't really happened. And now that oil and gas prices are down, we find ourselves short a lot of money."

Other ideas for raising revenue without hurting the everyday taxpayer include a new fee on hospitals and increased taxes on the wealthy.

See a full analysis of the fiscal and economic impacts of Medicaid expansion in New Mexico here.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
On March 7, 1965, police and state troopers brutally attacked civil rights marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. Known as Bloody Sunday, the violence left many injured and sparked national outrage, fueling the fight for voting rights. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Sixty years ago this weekend, young activists marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, demanding their right to vote and changing …


Environment

play sound

Wisconsin's largest utility provider is seeking approval for a new gas plant to help meet growing electricity demand, but a new report argues there …

Social Issues

play sound

Educators in Texas are concerned about the Trump administration's plans to dismantle the Department of Education. One of the Department's primary …


Environment

play sound

By Dawn Attride for Sentient.Broadcast version by Mike Moen for Minnesota News Connection reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service Collaboration…

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, in 2023, 12% of people in West Virginia prisons were over age 55, and the average age of state prisoners was 39. (Adobe Stock/AI)

Social Issues

play sound

A bill pending in the West Virginia Legislature would increase the length of penalties for "serious" felony convictions, but critics have said it …

Social Issues

play sound

More testimony was heard yesterday about term limit reforms in North Dakota, an issue voters around the state might have to decide again. In 2022…

Social Issues

play sound

This Sunday, most of the United States will "spring forward" for daylight saving time, which means losing an hour of sleep. Dr. Deepa Burman…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021