U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, along with U.S. Reps. Melanie Stansbury and Teresa Leger Fernandez, recently met with doctors and local leaders in New Mexico to discuss the state of health care in the region. Becerra highlighted the challenges that many people in American society are facing when it comes to accessing healthcare, either due to lack of resources from the state or because they reside in rural or low-income communities.
Leger Fernandez and Stansbury emphasized two major challenges facing health care in New Mexico – the lack of access to health care for Latinos, especially in rural areas, and the need to bring qualified medical professionals to these underserved areas. They pointed out that the lack of health care access in rural communities is resulting in preventable deaths and negatively impacting the local economy as people are forced to leave in search of better care.
The primary objective now is to increase the number of health care facilities in rural communities and attract more practitioners to the area. Stansbury acknowledged that clinics face challenges in staying open and recruiting talent to New Mexico. Despite these struggles, state leaders are committed to addressing these issues and working towards improving health care access for all residents.
