Governor signs health care bills into law

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed another four bills into law on Friday aiming to bolster health care in New Mexico.

She signed House Bill 7 and Senate bills 14, 17 and 161 at a hospital in Truth or Consequences on Friday.

“This session was a big session for health care,” said House Majority Whip Rep. Reena Szczepanski, D-Santa Fe, sponsor of House Bill 7.

Friday’s signings are in addition to a heap of bills Lujan Grisham recently signed. The governor has signed at least 36 bills into law. That’s half of all the bills that lawmakers sent to her desk from this year’s legislative session.

The health care bills

House Bill 7 directs health insurance premium surtax revenues to the Health Care Affordability Fund, as opposed to the money going to the state’s General Fund. Szczepanski said the Health Care Affordability Fund enables programs that reduce health care premiums or deductibles for certain communities, like small businesses or low-income families.

“The health care affordability fund is one of the best investments we’ve made to help families access affordable coverage,” she said. “And at the same time, we’re supporting small businesses and health care providers through the programs within the health care affordability fund.”

The other three bills signed came from the Senate.

Senate Bill 161, which unanimously passed the Legislature, creates a subsidy program for some rural hospitals to help recover specific revenue losses.

Another bill with almost unanimous legislative support that Lujan Grisham signed was Senate Bill 17, which creates the Health Care Delivery and Access Act, imposing assessments on most hospitals to send additional Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals. The goal is to keep rural hospitals open.

Finally, Senate Bill 14 changes the functions of the Health Care Authority Department, including redirecting specific functions from other agencies, like the Department of Health, to the Health Care Authority.