Health Care Reform

OLÉ's members and organizers have been involved in the fight for federal health care reform since July of 2008 when we became the lead organization for Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the largest health care reform coalition in the country. We have coordinated mass rallies and protests, convened meetings with every congressional member from New Mexico, brought over 200 New Mexican businesses into the campaign, and accumulated thousands of signatures in support of quality, affordable health care for all. OLÉ members who have been cut by insurers when their coverage was most needed or who have struggled to survive with no or inadequate coverage have shared their stories at numerous events in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Santa Fe, and Washington, D.C. and provided New Mexico's members of Congress with first-hand accounts of the challenges that New Mexicans face in getting the health care that they need.

OLÉ is also currently working with other organizations to implement the new health care reform legislation in New Mexico.  We are also working to help educate New Mexicans about what the program will mean to them and how they will benefit from it.

Medicare

OLÉ is working with Caring Across Generations to organize senior citizens around the state. See our Events Calandar for upcoming meetings where seniors can learn more about recent changes to Medicare that are providing new benefits to seniors. We will also be talking about the debate in Congress over Medicare's future and asking seniors to tell us which Medicare programs are most important to them, so we can make sure our representatives know which parts of the program they absolutely must not touch!

Then, in the months and years to come, we will be working with Caring Across Generations to organize home care workers who will team up with our seniors to move federal and state legislation that improves home health care and ensures that seniors can receive quality care provided by well trained, compensated, and respected home care workers.

Medicaid

OLÉ has organized thousands of Medicaid recipients across the state to defend federal and state attacks on the program that 550,000 New Mexicans rely on for health care. Most recently we helped lead the campaign to stop Governor Susana Martinez in her attempt to introduce co-pays to the state's Medicaid program. Hundreds of members and allies attended the Governor's hearings around the state, held our own hearing in Albuquerque, and talked to scores of legislators at the Roundhouse about the danger of charging working New Mexicans when they or their children need to see a doctor. When the Governor released her new plan for Medicaid in February, 2012, the plan included no new co-pays, only the existing policy of requiring a co-pay when using an Emergency Room for non-emergency care.

Congratulations, OLÉ members!

In the coming year, as the lead organization for HCAN (Health Care for America Now) in New Mexico, OLÉ will lead the fight to stop federal cuts to the Medicaid budget.