Brief Summary of Meetings with NM Congressional Offices

The following Document was provided by Head Councilman Joe Garcia of Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo.

Brief Summary of Meetings with NM Congressional Offices

RELATED to NMHS & CMS (Center for Medicaid/Medicare Services)

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Visits by Joe Garcia, (Fred Starzyk, Andy Garfinkle from Aronnx, LLC)

                                    
The following documents were included in Congressional informational packet.

1. Martin Heinrich Letter to DHHS
2. Ohkay Owingeh Position Paper Jan 13, 2013
3. Ohkay Owingeh Council Resolution 2012 – 12
4. NM Tribal Opposition to centennial Care Jan 2013
5. Tribal Consultation NMHS Mar 20, 2013
6. Issues for CMS/Tribal/State Conference
7. IHS Letter to NMHS
8. NCAI Resolution SAC-12-037

1. Congresswoman Michelle Lujan-Grisham(Leticia Mederos, Chief of Staff) – Spoke to Congresswoman directly.  She was very informed of the tribal situation with NMHS and the submittal of the Section 1115 Waiver to CMS.  She had already been in contact with CMS as per some of our calls to her office and has already drafted a letter to DHHS, CMS regarding this.  The packet was submitted to her as further support for her efforts.  She was very receptive to use her letter as a base sign off letter for our other Congressional reps.  A copy is available pending her approval for distribution.

2. Congressman Ben Ray Lujan - (Ken Lucero was at this meeting) Met with Aaron Trujillo.  He was apprised of our situation but was not in an urgent mode.  We provided updated info and what NMHS was doing at this time.  Appraised him about the sense of urgency for the tribes and that CMS may be making a decision soon.  Congressman was prepared to draft letter, so suggested the joint letter which is what will most likely happen.   He had a copy of Grisham’s letter.

3. Senator Udall (Staff Fern) & Senator Heinrich (Staff - Steve Haro, Chief of Staff, Maya Hermann, Legislative Assistant for Native American issues, Sandra Wilkins , LA for health issues) (Ken was also at this meeting) Both office staff members were aware of the situation but not to the level of our activities and meetings with CMS & NMHS.  Updates were provided for awareness and clarity’s sake.  Both offices are on board to get this issue resolved.  They asked what recommendations we had.  A few of the documents provided already had recommendations however we indicated that NMHS has not committed to amending their Waiver submittal to the level that is needed.  We have not heard directly from CMS on their plan and time frame for decisions.  Thus the state/CMS process continues.  We also made them aware that MCOs have already been selected NMHS.  

Conclusion:  All in all the visits were very productive.  The urgency and timeliness of the efforts was stressed throughout our meetings.  We will be back in touch with the Congressional Offices for the letter/letters and for next steps.