Is the Mayor of Albuquerque touting healthcare provider Molina's move downtown as a triumph of free market capitalism? If Molina lost the federal support it gets for delivering health services to Medicaid/Medicare recipients, and Affordable Care Act’s Health Plan customers, there would be almost no jobs to move downtown. ABQBizFirst reported over a year ago that the healthcare industry was one of three industries fueling job growth in New Mexico. For the time being the current partnership between the federal government and private health insurers is working not only to provide better healthcare but to create decent paying jobs.
The assistance that the City if getting, which is almost always presented as if it’s a corporate initiative, should be presented as the partnership it really is. The stream of federal grants coming into this city are examples of our government working for us -- bringing our tax dollars back to New Mexico, building our community and bringing resources back to our neighborhoods where they belong.
They’re our tax dollars - we earned them. We don’t want them sucked out of New Mexico into foreign bank accounts or used to pad the bottom line of corporations whose headquarters are not in the U.S.
The Mayor of Albuquerque also fails to look at what else would happen if Molina lost federal support from the Affordable Care Act. The loss would deal a savage blow to the continuing health of New Mexicans. Federal assistance supports keeping New Mexicans healthy and employable in a highly competitive economy. That same federal support also means there are fewer sick people handling our food in restaurants, schools, and grocery stores where workers often don’t have health insurance or sick days.
Questions:
Is your local media giving the Affordable Care Act the credit it's due or does your local media constantly present a negative picture?
We all hope that our kids and grandkids will live long healthy lives but if one of them didn't have health insurance and came down with an illness, would you want them to have access to good health care services?