Health Care & Wellness

Health care is a fundamental right and our goal must be to ensure that every American has access to quality, affordable care, no matter their means or where they’re from.

New Mexico faces significant health challenges, including access to care in rural and tribal communities, limited mental health services, and an opioid addiction epidemic. Our state can’t afford to see the impacts of reckless repeal of the Affordable Care Act or efforts to dismantle our nation’s health care system and gut Medicare and Medicaid.

As a proud supporter of the Affordable Care Act, I know prevention and early intervention are cost effective and lead to healthier families. Health insurance, prevention, and value for your health care dollars are at the heart of the health reform law. I am committed to working with anyone, regardless of party, to advance measures that improve health care access, quality, and affordability. The goal of revising the ACA should be to lower costs for those who already have health benefits and expand access to those who do not currently have coverage.

Latest

  • NM Delegation Applauds Over $1 Million Grant to UNM Memory and Aging Center

    WASHINGTON-U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) and Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.) announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the National Institute on Aging, has awarded $1,069,505 to the University of New Mexico (UNM) Memory and Aging Center to conduct research on health disparities in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease among rural populations, with a particular focus on underserved Native American and Hispanic communities. Read More

  • NM Delegation Applauds $32.3 Million in HHS COVID-19 High Impact Allocation Provider Relief Grants

    WASHINGTON-U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) and Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.) announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) COVID-19 High-Impact Allocation Provider Relief Fund, has awarded $32.3 million to the Gallup Indian Medical Center, Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services (RMCHHCS) Hospital, UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center, and Shiprock-Northern Navajo Medical Center. Read More

  • Udall, Heinrich Put Pressure on Trump Administration to Reverse Decision that Reroutes COVID-19 Hospital Data Collection and Reporting Away From CDC

    WASHINGTON-U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined a group of 46 Senate Democrats in a letter to Vice President Mike Pence and Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, urging the Trump administration to reverse a new policy requiring hospitals to report data to a new system set up by the Department of Health and Human Services instead of the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), which is run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and has been in use for over a decade. Read More

  • Udall, Heinrich Join All Senate Democrats in Telling Trump Administration: Don’t Repeal Affordable Care Act During Public Health Crisis

    WASHINGTON -U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined all Senate Democrats in introducing a Senate resolution condemning the Trump administration's "reckless" effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (ACA) during the COVID-19 public health emergency. The Trump Department of Justice (DOJ) just last week filed a Supreme Court brief arguing the entire law should be struck down. The resolution demands that the DOJ defend the lifesaving law in court. Read More

  • Heinrich Demands CDC Transparency With Tribal COVID-19 Data

    WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) sent a letter to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Robert R. Redfield, after recent reporting by Politico that the federal government had turned down tribal epidemiologists' requests for data showing how the coronavirus (COVID-19) is spreading around their communities. Senator Heinrich noted that withholding life-saving data widens the health disparities that are already running rampant in areas that are ill-equipped to contain the spread and the outcomes of this pandemic. Read More

  • Heinrich urges CDC to share data with tribal orgs

    Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) is calling on the CDC to share coronavirus data with the nation's 12 Tribal Epidemiology Centers, warning that its refusal is hampering Native Americans’ ability to respond to the pandemic. Read More

  • Udall, Heinrich Introduce CORE Act to Ensure Transparency in COVID-19 Response

    WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), and U.S. Representatives Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and John Sarbanes (D-Md.) to introduce the Coronavirus Oversight and Recovery Ethics (CORE) Act (S. 3855), legislation that would ensure stronger oversight, accountability, and transparency in the federal government's response to the COVID-19 crisis. The lawmakers are calling for the provisions of the CORE Act to be central to any future relief bill to ensure taxpayer dollars do not benefit interests of the wealthy or well-connected to the exclusion of the American people.  Read More

  • Udall, Heinrich Press for Expanded Access to Affordable Health Care in Upcoming COVID-19 Legislation

    WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined 35 of their Senate colleagues to urge House and Senate leaders to ensure that any upcoming COVID-19 relief bill includes strong provisions to expand access to quality and affordable health care coverage in the wake of the coronavirus public health crisis. In their letter, the senators called for a bipartisan effort to increase the federal government spending on Medicaid to reduce the burden on state budgets as well as reduce premiums for individuals who are eligible for coverage in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges. Read More

  • NM Delegation Applauds Medical Training Scholarship Grants to New Mexico Universities

    WASHINGTON-U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) and Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.) announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded $1,999,587 to New Mexico State University (NMSU) and the University of New Mexico (UNM) for advanced medical training scholarships for low-income students who will serve medically underserved communities. The funds represent the first of a five-year grant to the universities to support nearly $10 million in scholarships for students to serve disadvantaged communities. Read More