Health Care

RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Authored the US-Mexico Border Health Commission Act, creating a Commission of both federal governments, the 6 Mexican and 4 U.S. border states, and border communities and constituencies to identify, evaluate, and resolve health problems that affect the general population of the area
• Played a key role in crafting much of the legislation that made up the “Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act of 2003,” including key provisions such as reducing the payment disparities in the physician payment formula that caused New Mexico doctors to be paid below the national average
• Worked to ensure that physicians in rural, underserved areas will automatically receive the ten percent bonus payment they are entitled to and reduce the geographic payment disparities that have caused New Mexico doctors to be paid less than the national average
• Cosponsored the “Covering Kids Act of 2005,” which will provide $100 million in funding for outreach and enrollment efforts for the SCHIP program
• Passed an amendment that would use $10 million in health nutrition education programs to combat childhood obesity issues
• Introduced the “Child Health Care Crisis Relief Act” to increase the number of specialists trained to deal with children’s mental illnesses
• Worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to improve immunization rates in New Mexico
• Introduced the “Ending the Medicare Disability Waiting Period Act of 2005” which eliminates the two-year waiting period for Medicare coverage
• Introduced legislation that would increase the federal government’s share of Medicaid payments to more than two dozen states – including New Mexico
• Wrote the provision authorizing grants to states to provide school-based dental sealant services to children in low-income areas and to develop school-based dental sealant programs to improve access to sealants
• Wrote key provisions of the Health Professions Education Partnerships Act, which provides funding for education and training for all of the health professions
• Worked to ensure that Native American women qualify for Medicaid coverage if they have been found to have breast or cervical cancer through the Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program.
  

POLICY THEMES

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