The Los Alamos League of Women Voters is thrilled to have Mary Feldblum and Rick Madden join us via Zoom to discuss the New Mexico Health Security Plan.  According to the Health Security for New Mexican's website 

The campaign "is a broad grassroots coalition of organizations and individuals around New Mexico that believe it’s time for our state to set up its own health plan, with freedom of choice of health care provider and a comprehensive benefit package, to ensure health care coverage for all New Mexicans." The website indicates that the plan is "to support a complex private health insurance system that has failed to address our health care crisis is not a wise investment of our limited resources. That’s why we advocate for the New Mexico Health Security Plan—an approach that shifts private insurance to a supplementary role, just as Medicare did for the over-65 population many years ago."

Mary has over two decades of experience working on a variety of health-related issues of concern to New Mexicans including patient protection, hospital and health plan sales and conversions and different approaches to providing health care insurance coverage. For 10 years she headed the New Mexico Health Care Project for Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports Magazine.   She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign, a broad coalition of over 170 organizations that support the Health Security Act, legislation that would enable New Mexico to set up its own comprehensive health plan.

As a former director of Hofstra University’s Institute of Applied Social Science, she has worked as a consultant in a variety of areas including social policy research, negotiations training and mediation. She has a Ph.D. in Sociology with a minor in Economics.

Mary has more than two decades of experience working on a variety of health-related issues of concern to New Mexicans including patient protection, hospital and health plan sales and conversions and different approaches to providing health care insurance coverage.   For ten years she headed the New Mexico Health Care Project for Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports Magazine.   She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign, a broad coalition of more than 170 organizations that support the Health Security Act, legislation that would enable New Mexico to set up its own comprehensive health plan.

Rick Madden attended UNM Medical School and UNM Family Medicine Residency, finishing in 1983. He has practiced in Belen since 1985. As a former member of the American Academy of Family Physicians Board of Directors, he has been involved with decisions and initiatives related to reforming health care nationally, as well as in New Mexico and in his own practice with Presbyterian Medical Group. 

He served as Speaker of the NM Medical Society until 2013. Rick is an active member of the NM Medicaid Advisory Committee to the NM Human Services Department, and chairs committees for the NM Academy of Family Physicians (Legislative Affairs) and the NM Medical Society (Health System Coverage for NM).

Please register in advance of this meeting.