Committee advances bill to restructure state employee health benefits, citing $155 million savings over five years

The House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee on Wednesday voted to give Senate Bill 376 a due-pass recommendation after hearing presentations from Health Care Authority officials and public supporters.

Senate Bill 376 would require actuarially sound budget requests for the state health plan, create a program to subsidize premiums for lower-income employees through the Health Care Affordability Fund, include hospital pricing protections, and lower premiums for qualifying National Guard members who use TRICARE Select Reserve. "The bill saves taxpayers money and paves the way for other state public insurance partners to adopt similar reforms next year," Carrie Armijo, Cabinet Secretary of the Health Care Authority, told the committee, and she said the measure would save the State General Fund $155,000,000 over five years.

The legislation, sponsors said, addresses long-running deficits in the state health benefits plan after a transfer of administration to the Health Care Authority. Representative Small (sitting in for the bill sponsor) said the state had not consistently submitted actuarially sound rate requests and that SB 376 would correct that while reducing the uninsured rate among National Guard members and giving local public bodies more budget certainty.

Supporters told the committee the bill would help recruiting and retention for the Guard and reduce financial hardship for low- and middle-income state employees. "This increases our readiness to respond when our communities, our neighbors, our state, and our nation needs us," a National Guard official identified as a general told the panel. Sergeant Jack Smith of the New Mexico Army National Guard told the committee many service members have civilian jobs without dependable coverage and supported the bill to close that gap. Randall Bates, vice president of the New Mexico National Guard Association, said the association representing more than 180 officers and senior leaders supports the bill for readiness and retention reasons.

Labor and legal-aid advocates also testified in support. Lindsey Hurst, executive vice president of CWA Local 7076, said removing tiered insurance would prevent unintended pay cuts for lower-paid employees who move into higher insurance tiers after raises. Erica Sanchez of the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, speaking for the coalition New Mexico Together for Healthcare, said high out-of-pocket costs had pushed thousands into debt and endorsed expanding the Health Care Affordability Fund to subsidize premiums for employees below 250 percent of the federal poverty level.

After public comment, Representative Block moved a due-pass recommendation; the motion received a second and passed with no recorded opposition. The committee record does not show a roll-call tally for SB 376 in the transcript excerpt.

The committee paused further floor action and moved on to other agenda items; sponsors said implementation details and eligibility criteria would be refined in subsequent drafting and committee work.

Votes at this meeting on SB 376 were recorded as a committee due-pass recommendation; the committee did not adopt text amendments during the hearing.