Immigrant Women Rise Against Domestic Violence
Off a busy Albuquerque boulevard, one of the city’s most vital services goes on quietly with its work. Now 13 years old, Enlace Comunitario, or Community Link, works non-stop to prevent and resolve domestic violence among the Duke City’s large, Spanish-speaking immigrant population.
Beginning with a handful of visionary founders, Enlace Comunitario now employs a fulltime staff of 31 and many volunteers who educate the community about the varied manifestations of domestic violence, as well as channels assistance and resources to victims...
The Corporate Sleight of Hand and the ACA
According to the illusionist team Penn and Teller, one of the main principles in sleight-of-hand stage magic is "misdirection," whereas an audience's attention is lead "away from a secret move.” The distraction is necessary to make an audience believe something is happening when in fact it is not. On the current American political and economic stage we have a myriad of hucksters selling us a collective diversion from systemic inequalities and institutional injustices to the ‘reality TV’ baseness of political parody...
Health Reform In The Cross Fire
As the Federal Exchange continues to frustrate all of us, we are also seeing other aspects of the ACA surface and become the fodder of attacks and misinformation. While some benefits started early in 2010, other, more complex changes specifically related to the infrastructure of insurance reform start now that is causing further angst. But then, as we see, it’s easy to blame everything on the ACA...
Hidden Treasures
“Some people say that they are “basura humana” or human garbage but I feel that they are “tesoros escondidos” or hidden treasures, Pastor José Antonio Galván says of the one hundred mental patients in his asylum in the desert on the west of Juárez, Mexico.It’s been almost three years since my first visit with him, this imposing, quick witted, relentlessly optimistic man who has saved the lives of so many of Mexico’s mentally ill...
KOAT picks up our Glyphosate story (video)
Although no credit was given to New Mexico Mercury, it's nice to know that some local news outlets are paying attention to our stories. After our piece on the use of Glyphosate by city, county and state governments in New Mexico, Susan Clair, who's interviewed in the article, was contacted by KOAT for their brief piece. Our original story was written by our intern Svetlana Ozden, who studies at UNM and was a former editor at the Daily Lobo...
Health Reform Update: Off to a Rocky Start
The Health Insurance Exchange is the only mechanism we have at the moment to extend health care to the uninsured and I was as disappointed as anyone with the Federal Exchange’s inability to handle the high volume of hits to its website and then to fix the problems two weeks into implementation. I hear it is getting better but still not smooth sailing...
Countdown to Health Reform III
The New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange opened October 1, and it is clear there are some hiccups as an enterprise as massive as this one moves into action. But they will get over these growing pains and will get it together. Individuals without coverage or those wanting to change their coverage will have six months (October 1, 2013 – March 31, 2014) to enroll through the Exchange. Anyone can enroll now, but the policies will not be effective until January 1, 2014. So you have time to learn about using the Exchange.
Below are a few suggestions for those who want to purchase coverage...
Countdown to Health Reform II
With less than two weeks to go, a critical component of the ACA, the New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange, unveiled its new look and commitment to becoming part of the landscape of New Mexico starting October 1, 2013. The new website was unveiled Tuesday morning and you can check it out at: BeWellNM.com. In addition, the Exchange is getting ready to initiate a campaign of radio and television advertisements touting its services shortly...
Countdown to health care reform
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is barely one month away from its first major milestone on October 1, 2013 when Health Insurance Exchanges (HIX) will be operational. The HIX is the marketplace for individual and small businesses to purchase affordable health insurance. As this deadline approaches, a flurry of anxiety and confusion will inevitably surface. Change is never easy even when it’s simple – and changes in health care are never simple...
UNM involved in privatizing medical care in NM
Why is the UNM Health Sciences Center (UNMHSC) so keen to go into business with private Texas investors who were part of the largest medical fraud scandal in US history? The UNM Board of Regents has enabled the UNM Health Sciences Center to enter into a part-ownership deal with the for-profit LHP Hospital Group to buy up the Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services Hospital in Gallup. UNM will have a 20% stake.
The leadership of UNMHSC is being careless with our taxpayer money and trust. Either they choose to ignore the background of their business partners, or perhaps they just don’t know how to do a simple Google search...