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

  • We need to protect the air we breathe

    As someone with a background in mechanical engineering, I always believe we need to rely on science as we create solutions to the problems we face. The COVID-19 pandemic is a problem on a scale that most of us have never faced before. Many of the world's brightest scientists are discovering new information about the virus every day. It is by definition a novel coronavirus. Read More

  • NM Delegation Reintroduces Care Corps Demonstration Act

    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.) reintroduced the Care Corps Demonstration Act to build and strengthen America's caregiving workforce and help meet the growing demand for caregivers working with seniors and people living with disabilities. The lawmakers previously introduced the bill in the 114th Congress with then-U.S. Representative, now New Mexico Governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham. Read More

  • NM Delegation Applauds Contract Worth up to $237 Million Awarded to UNM and Project ECHO to Train Nursing Homes on Covid-19 Infection Control

    WASHINGTON - Congressman Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), along with U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and U.S. Representatives Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) and Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.), applauded the announcement of a contract worth up to $237 million from the Provider Relief Fund (PRF) created under the CARES Act to the University of New Mexico (UNM) and Project ECHO. The funding will expand a pilot program in partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to educate nursing homes about COVID-19 infection control. The program will be available to any nursing home wishing to receive training.  Read More

  • As COVID-19 Deaths Reach 200,000, Heinrich Pushes For A Task Force To Investigate Trump Administration’s Political Interference In Pandemic Response

    WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined 33 Senate Democrats to introduce the Science and Transparency Over Politics Act. This legislation would create a task force of the Pandemic Response and Accountability Committee charged with conducting a thorough investigation into any political interference with decisions made by scientific agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic response. Read More

  • NM Delegation Announces Over $9.4 Million in Grant Awards to Combat Opioid Epidemic and Substance Abuse in New Mexico

    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 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has awarded over $9.4 million in grants to combat the opioid epidemic and substance abuse in communities across New Mexico, including several Tribal communities. The funding will go toward addiction treatment, recovery services, lifesaving overdose prevention, and reducing Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) among newborn babies exposed to opioids before birth. Read More

  • New Mexico Congressional Delegation Seeks Accountability Following COVID-19 Outbreak at Cibola County Correctional Center

    Washington, D.C.- On Friday, U.S. Representatives Xochitl Torres Small (NM-02), Deb Haaland (NM-01), and Ben Ray Luján (NM-03) and Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich raised serious concerns with the Directors of the U.S Marshals Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and CoreCivic, which privately operates the Cibola County Correctional Center, about their shared ability to effectively manage COVID-19 within its facilities following an outbreak that led to hundreds of positive cases.  Read More

  • NM Delegation Applauds Grants to Expand Health Care in Rural Communities

    WASHINGTON-U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), along with 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) has awarded $640,000 to the New Mexico Department of Health and to El Centro Family Health to expand health care opportunities in rural communities. Read More

  • 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