COMMUNITY News: The next Voices of Los Alamos meeting is 6:30-7:30 p.m., Monday at the Unitarian Church. The organization will discuss upcoming rallies to protest the current administration’s policy of separating families at the border.
All citizens interested in participating and/or organizing an event are invited. The organization also will host speakers Mary Feldblum, executive director of the Campaign for Health Security (https://www.nmhealthsecurity.org/) and retired physician Tyler Taylor. They will discuss a proposed health bill that would lead to a health insurance co-op covering about 80 percent of New Mexicans.
During the meeting, Feldblum will review the bill that will be presented to both Houses of the New Mexico Legislature in January, which would lead to a health insurance co-op covering about 80 percent of New Mexicans. How this can be done with current insurance premiums and public monies, allowing all New Mexico residents to have quality coverage, will be explained. More than 30 cities and counties in the state have voted to support this plan, and the possibility of Los Alamos County doing likewise will be touched on.
The program will conclude with a question and answer time. The general public is welcome to participate. Feldblum will also discuss this Health Security Plan with local providers 5:15-6 p.m. Monday in the Los Alamos Medical Center Large Conference Room. How this plan would simplify day-to-day healthcare work, and how it compares to dealing with current healthcare payers, will be reviewed.
At each of these events, Taylor, a recently-retired longtime family physician, will add a few comments from a provider’s “in-the-trenches” perspective.
The Health Security for New Mexicans Campaign is a broad grassroots coalition of organizations and individuals around New Mexico that believe it is 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 New Mexico Health Security Plan shifts private insurance to a supplementary role, just as Medicare did for the over-65 population many years ago. Learn more: https://www.nmhealthsecurity.org/
Meeting Agenda
- New Mexico primaries: thank you to all who voted! Open primaries in the state– controversial, we will have speakers discuss the pros and cons.
- Eric Peterson, Los Alamos Open Space Specialist, will update on Stage III fire restrictions. Check website: https://firerestrictions.us/nm/nm-los-alamos-county/
- FLAP update and turnout
- LWV Karyl Ann Armbruster, secretary of the NM PED Public Education Commission, will comment on Republican candidate Lisa Shin’s arguments against universal pre-K and other public education policies.
- James Robinson from the Environmental and Sustainability Board explains the new yard trimming collection and the motivation behind collecting recyclables bi-weekly starting July 1.
- High school EcoClub on org petition to the county council asking the implementation of a plastic bag fee in Los Alamos County: https://www.change.org/p/los-alamos-county-council-implement-a-plastic-bag-fee-in-los-alamos-county
Announcements
- 6-7:30 p.m. June 26, the Unitarian Church will host a discussion by the Santa Fe Dreamers Project on “Family Separation at the Border.”
- Next Lunch with a Leader is 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, July 17 at Mesa Library. A representative from ACLU will speak on immigration and border security.
