T hanks to the recent passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” over 15 million Americans are set to lose their health care in the coming months and years, and for New Mexicans, this will be an even more dangerous blow due to already exceptionally poor health care access. Even primary care physicians are scarce, and wait times for appointments can be months or more. This is simply not the case in other states, and will be devastating once providers are forced to shutter, making appointments even more difficult to come by.
Personally, I’m a new New Mexican. I recently left a job in health policy advocacy, based in Washington, D.C., to move closer to family here. I got into my career after I was diagnosed with bone cancer at age 25. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, I was able to get on my parents’ insurance and get the care needed to survive. I still depend on access to care, though, as treatment left me with a number of secondary conditions. For example, I require regular check-ins with an orthopedic oncologist, someone who specializes in what is considered a rare pediatric cancer. At the moment, there is one orthopedic oncologist in the state of New Mexico, located in Albuquerque, but he is not accepting new patients. This is not a provider I can go without seeing.
