One of the hardest decisions to make is whether to stay home sick and not draw a paycheck, or go to work sick and get paid. In New Mexico, nearly half of all employees have to make that decision when they get sick.
Many families already struggle to put food on the table, said Executive Director Veronica Garcia. “New Mexico has the highest rate of child poverty in the nation, the highest unemployment rate and the third-highest child food insecurity rate,” Garcia said in a statement. “Why would we do anything that could make child poverty and hunger worse?”
The left-right agreement on dental therapists in the Land of Enchantment includes the free-market Rio Grande Foundation as well as the left-leaning Health Action New Mexico and New Mexico Voices for Children.
New Mexico is now worst in the nation in the percentage of children living in poverty, according to the Kids Count data book for 2015, which is released each year on the first day of the legislative session by the children and families advocacy organization New Mexico Voices for Children.
Advocates of the Medicaid expansion, such as Bill Jordan of New Mexico Voices for Children, worry that the department will have to cut services to keep up with the enrollment demand. “Both of the proposed budgets have over $100 million of cost containment built in,” Jordan said.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s annual Kids Count report has ranked New Mexico either last or next-to-last among the 50 states in child well-being for the past three years.
Another study has found that the amount of uninsured New Mexicans fell since the passage of health care overhaul legislation. This time, the U.S. Census Bureau released data on Wednesday that showed the uninsured rate in New Mexico fell from 18.6 percent in 2013 to 14.5 percent in 2014, one of the largest drops in the nation.
“New Mexico is still struggling to recover from the recession, and too many are struggling to feed their families,” said Veronica C. Garcia, Ed.D, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children. “Until the state starts creating jobs that pay a living wage, punishing people for not finding work is only going to make a bad situation worse.”