OPINION: Cooperation needed to roll out balanced path forward for health care system

Our vision at the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce (Hispano Chamber) is to improve lives through commerce, community and culture. Try as we might, until our New Mexico Legislature and governor change our laws to improve our health care system, our vision will be unachievable.

Why?

New Mexico is facing a health care crisis that is growing more urgent by the day — and its impact on small businesses, working families and rural communities can no longer be ignored. If lawmakers are serious about strengthening our economy, they must confront the reality that our state’s medical malpractice system is driving doctors away and deepening a statewide shortage of health care providers. This is not good for businesses here in New Mexico, nor for our community

Between 2019 and 2024, New Mexico lost 248 physicians — nearly 10% of our entire physician workforce. During that same period, the rest of the country added more than 44,000 doctors. To make matters worse, we have the oldest physician workforce in the nation: nearly 40% of New Mexico’s doctors are age 60 or older and expected to retire by 2030. We are losing doctors faster than we can replace them.

This shortage is catastrophic for public health because New Mexicans experience some of the highest rates of chronic disease in the country. New Mexico has a high rate of citizens with obesity and hypertension and a significant population dealing with diabetes, asthma, COPD and heart disease. These conditions require consistent, timely care. Yet for many families, that care simply does not exist.

Nowhere is this crisis more visible than in rural communities like Mora and San Miguel counties. Many rural towns rely on just a handful of providers — or none. When even a single doctor retires, clinics cut back services or close entirely. Residents with chronic illnesses must drive one to three hours for care, and specialist care is even farther. Delays worsen health conditions, increase costs and push families to relocate. Rural New Mexico is being hollowed out, not just by lack of jobs, but by lack of accessible health care.

The consequences for small businesses are severe. New Mexico’s small businesses employ more than half of the state’s workforce — and between 55% and 60% of Hispanic workers. When employees must travel out of state for routine appointments or urgent care, they miss work, pay added travel costs, and place stress on coworkers who are already covering too much ground. Some have even lost their ability to utilize their flexible spending account as their surgery is pushed out to the next calendar year. Small and large businesses already struggle to recruit and retain talent; limited access to health care makes it dramatically harder.

There are meaningful reforms that could help: joining interstate licensure compacts to allow more providers to practice here, repealing the gross receipts tax on medical services and expanding student loan repayment for health care workers. But these solutions alone will not fix the problem.

Doctors repeatedly cite one dominant reason they choose not to practice in New Mexico: Our medical malpractice system is unbalanced, unpredictable and unlike anything in the surrounding region. New Mexico has more malpractice lawsuits per capita than any other state. Providers face high — and often unaffordable — malpractice insurance premiums and exposure to unlimited punitive damages. In contrast, states like California and Colorado have adopted balanced reforms that protect patients who are harmed while ensuring doctors can continue practicing without facing financial ruin.

New Mexico has not kept up — and the consequences are now impossible to ignore. Here’s the deal. This is not about protecting negligent providers. It is about ensuring that every New Mexican — especially victims of malpractice — can access timely, high-quality care. A system that drives doctors out of the state leaves all patients worse off, including those seeking justice after a medical injury.

The Hispano Chamber, in partnership with other business organizations, will invite stakeholders in the coming weeks to propose the strongest and most balanced path forward. But we cannot afford another year of delay. Every month that passes brings more retirements, more departures, more clinic closures and more families forced to choose between staying in their community or accessing care elsewhere.

New Mexico’s future depends on the health of its people. And the health of our people depends on a health care system that providers can afford to practice in. It is time for lawmakers to act — now.

Ernie Cdebaca is the president and CEO of the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce. He is also a member of the Albuquerque Journal Community Council.