No 'affordable' or 'care' in Obama's act

“I’m clear we have a long way to go.”

— U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., on the Affordable Care Act

Five years into the 2,409-page Affordable Care Act, many New Mexicans are still asking where the “affordable” is. As well as the “care.”

The controversial act, also known as Obamacare, provided for expanded Medicaid enrollment, established premium subsidies, removed lifetime caps on what an insurer will spend and allowed parents to keep children on their plan until age 26. It was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012.

But in 2015, when one would think at least some of the major “bugs” in the system would have been worked out, there are still New Mexicans who:

• Make a run for the border for more affordable prescription medications;

• Pay for so-called free preventive care when that care does its job and finds something to prevent;

• Pay for alternative treatments because insurance only covers traditional (and often inappropriate and more expensive) treatments;

• Book multiple appointments to get a holistic approach to multiple health concerns;

• Are left without care because providers are afraid they will not be reimbursed.

These experiences are not apocryphal tales circulated via email chain letter by Obamacare foes; they are the very real-life challenges New Mexico residents recounted recently at a forum with Lujan Grisham at the Albuquerque Journal.

To the congresswoman’s credit, she acknowledged the ACA’s shortcomings, even recounting her ongoing tough choices as she cares for her mother.

She ticked off proposed legislation to bring transparency to costs and billing, increase residency positions to bolster physician ranks and ban “specialty tiers” in prescription pricing.

And she routinely turned to the medical and insurance professionals in the audience for their thoughts and suggestions on the myriad concerns aired.

One two-hour public forum won’t put the “affordable” and the “care” into the ACA, but it’s a start.

Lujan Grisham, a former New Mexico secretary of health, is well-suited to the task. But she needs help, not only from New Mexico’s patients and providers and insurers, but from her colleagues in the state’s delegation and on the Hill.

Because five years into the ACA, it’s past time to make it live up to its name.

— Albuquerque Journal