Health Care

Congressman Luján believes all Americans should have access to quality medical care that is accessible and affordable. From his seat on the House Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Health, Congressman Luján advocates for increasing access to health care, reducing health disparities, and addressing drug abuse that has torn apart too many families in New Mexico.

Implementing the Affordable Care Act. Rep. Luján supported the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the law that helped put an end to discrimination based on pre-existing conditions and eliminated lifetime and annual limits on insurance coverage.  As a result of the Affordable Care Act, the uninsured rate in New Mexico has dropped from 20.2 percent in 2013 to 12.8 percent in 2015, while thousands of New Mexicans and millions of Americans purchased health insurance for the first time, allowing them to improve their health.

“For too long, New Mexico has ranked high on the list of the uninsured.  As a result of the Affordable Care Act, the number of uninsured New Mexicans has started to fall, giving thousands of families the peace of mind that they are no longer one illness or one accident away from financial ruin.  Seniors are saving money on their prescription medicine, women can no longer be charged more just for being a woman, and no New Mexican has to fear hitting a lifetime limit on their health coverage.  Thousands of New Mexicans have received tax credits to help them afford the cost of health insurance. Moving forward, Congress should work in a bipartisan effort to strengthen the law and make improvements that will further lower costs and increase access to care for New Mexicans and the American people." – Rep. Luján

For more resources on how the Affordable Care Act affects you, visit our Affordable Care Act resources page.

Supported Transparency and Access to Behavioral Health Services in New Mexico. In 2013, the State of New Mexico suddenly suspended Medicaid payments to 15 behavioral health providers. At Congressman Luján’s request, the New Mexico delegation met with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell to discuss New Mexico’s behavioral health crisis. At that meeting, Rep. Luján expressed concern about disruptions and gaps in care, confusion of clients, turnover of staff and providers, and missing health records. He asked the Secretary to identify possible federal actions to ensure that New Mexicans are receiving continuity of care that includes access to quality, timely behavioral health services throughout the state.

Rep. Luján, along with Democratic members of the New Mexico delegation, introduced the Medicaid Program Integrity Enhancement Act to protect Medicaid patients by establishing clear guidelines that ensure state agencies investigating allegations of fraud do so in a manner that both protects health care consumers and affords due process of law to the health care provider.

"When the State of New Mexico decided to unnecessarily suspend payments to 15 behavioral health providers, the system was thrown into chaos," said Rep. Luján.  Even though one provider after the next has been exonerated of the charges leveled against them by the State, the damage has been done - vulnerable New Mexicans have experienced disruptions in services and providers have been forced to close their doors.  The legislation we have introduced will guarantee the due process that none of these organizations were provided and ensure there is a process in place that provides additional review while protecting access to vital services and continuity of care.  New Mexico's behavioral health system has been needlessly broken and this bill will help prevent anything like this from happening again."

In an effort to provide incentives for states to prioritize improvements and investments in their behavioral health system, Rep. Luján introduced the Peer Support Specialist Act to address the significant shortage of mental health professionals across the United States. The bill would grow the peer professional workforce through the creation of a grant program aimed at developing behavioral health paraprofessional training and education programs and providing tuition support. 

To address to the instability of New Mexico’s behavioral health system, Rep. Luján introduced the Behavioral Health Infrastructure Improvement Act aimed at strengthening state behavioral health systems and helping patients and families. The bill provides an enhanced Federal Medical match for states that invest in and improve their behavioral health infrastructure, data, and access to care. It also provides states grants to create a behavioral health ombudsman or office of behavioral health assistance to collect, track, and quantify problems and inquiries encountered by individuals with respect to access; educate individuals on their rights and responsibilities; and assist individuals in accessing behavioral health services by providing information, referral, and assistance.

“New Mexico’s behavioral health system has been decimated by a manufactured crisis that has left too many of our most vulnerable neighbors without access to the care they need,” Congressman Luján said.  “This legislative package provides the necessary support to encourage states to make mental health a priority and invest the resources needed to meet the demand for mental health services.  Taken together, these bills can help New Mexico rebuild a system that meets the needs of those with mental health and substance abuse issues.”

Combating Substance Abuse. Congressman Luján continues to lead the fight in combating opioid abuse. With the support of 90 House Democrats, he introduced the Opioid and Heroin Abuse Crisis Investment Act. With 78 people dying from overdoses of heroin and prescription opioids per day—and deaths from the opioid epidemic surpassing the number of Americans killed in motor vehicle accidents each year—more resources are needed for prevention, treatment, and recovery. The legislation called for more than $1 billion to funding to combat the epidemic.

“The drug crisis is tearing apart the fabric of communities in New Mexico and across the country,” Congressman Ben Ray Luján said.  “While there are many dedicated individuals who are working as hard as they can to help our friends and neighbors who are struggling with drug abuse, it is painfully clear that the only way we can make significant progress is by putting in the resources that will make treatment and prevention more accessible and affordable.  Right now, too many people who want help and need help simply cannot get it.  This legislation, with a commitment to provide robust funding, represents a much-needed step forward that will save lives.”

Supporting Medical Research, Innovation, and Cures for Chronic and Deadly Diseases. As a member of the Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Health, Luján was engaged in developing the 21st Century Cures Act, which overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives. The 21st Century Cures Act provides $8.75 billion in mandatory funding over the next five years through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Cures Innovations Fund, ensuring an additional, supplementary funding stream to NIH.  It directs funds toward high-risk, high-reward research and research performed by early stage investigators.  It also strengthens NIH’s focus on diversifying the biomedical workforce by requiring it to focus on participation by scientists from underrepresented communities.

“By providing a dedicated stream of funding to NIH it will provide the brightest minds in our country with the funding they need to undertake cutting-edge scientific research that can usher in a new wave of treatments and cures,” Congressman Luján said.  “The fight against cancer is one that is very personal to my family and to millions of families across the country.  Knowing that the top medical researchers will have the resources they need to continue their efforts to find life-saving cures to devastating diseases like cancer provides so many with hope.”

Promoting the Health of Women and their Children.  Congressman Luján introduced the Improving Treatment for Pregnant and Postpartum Women Act, which reauthorizes a residential treatment program that provides a wide range of services designed to help pregnant women and women with small children who struggle with addiction. The bill also creates a pilot program to allow states to fund innovative service models, providing greater flexibility to expand services, particularly in rural communities. In addition, the legislation increases funding for the current program and the new pilot program. This bipartisan legislation passed the House in May 2016.

Developing Life-Saving Treatments for Newborns.  Each year, doctors admit 200,000 premature newborns across the United States to a neonatal intensive care units. One-in-five babies born prematurely face life-long health complications and death, yet there are limited treatments available for newborns. To begin to address the problem, Rep. Luján introduced the Promoting Live-Saving New Therapies for Neonates Act, which aims to spur development of drugs that can improve outcomes for devastating neonatal conditions. The bill provides for collaboration between the National Institutes of Health, the Critical Path Institute, and patient advocacy groups to identify priority conditions and then targets those conditions with new neonatal drugs.

“By supporting efforts that focus on pregnant women and women with young children and providing innovative new ways to deliver treatments, we can break the cycle of addiction and help ensure these families get on the right path from the very beginning,” said Congressman Luján.