LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Thank you to Brandt on work reducing medical GRT

Kudos to Senator Craig Brandt for his leadership in reducing New Mexico’s burdensome Gross Receipts Tax (GRT) on medical services, which is a major factor causing doctors, dentists and other health care professionals to leave the state or retire early.

New Mexico is one of just two states that imposes a GRT on medical services. (The other is Hawaii, which caps its tax at 4.7%, unlike the 8% that many New Mexico health care providers pay.) Unlike most businesses, which simply pass on the gross receipts tax to their customers, medical providers are generally not able to pass the tax on to insurance companies, Medicaid or Medicare. As a result, doctors, dentists and other health care providers end up bearing the full burden of the tax, making it more expensive to practice medicine in New Mexico than in other states.

Senator Brandt sponsored Senate Bill 455, to repeal the GRT on coinsurance, on top of the existing deduction for co-pays and deductibles. That bill became one of the largest pieces of the tax package approved by the legislature this year, reducing the GRT on medical services by nearly $50 million annually!

We commend Senator Brandt for championing reforms that will improve access to health care for his constituents and all New Mexicans.

Fred Nathan Jr.

Founder and executive director

Think New Mexico