A published draft letter attributed to Republican governor Susana Martinez touting Obamacare’s benefit to her state was the work of the independent New Mexico health care exchange, the exchange’s office tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD, and the text was never shared with Martinez’s staff before it was reported in the media Wednesday evening.
The document was prepared “proactively” in response to a House GOP request for input from state governors on how Congress should approach health care reform. It made Martinez, a critic of the Affordable Care Act, sound like an unlikely defender of the law. “We want to make it clear that the ACA has provided significant benefits to New Mexico, and any repeal without a viable replacement could cause considerable harm to New Mexicans,” reads the copy, which is addressed to House majority leader Kevin McCarthy. The names of Martinez and the state insurance commissioner are listed in print at the bottom, though neither official inked their name to it.
Politico reported on the letter Wednesday evening as if it had been signed, but Martinez’s office responded the same day saying she hadn’t even seen it. The New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange backed her up in a statement released Thursday.
“The New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange wants to make it clear that the Governor’s office or the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance never saw or were aware of the draft letter to Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s office. Both offices did not sign off on the draft because they were not even aware of its existence,” the statement reads. “The New Mexico Health Insurance exchange regrets this draft letter was misconstrued as any kind of official or unofficial statement on behalf of the Governor’s office.”
Martinez’s office took note of how the letter was interpreted, with spokesman Chris Sanchez telling TWS “this organization has no right to communicate the governor’s views.” The exchange is not a New Mexico state agency and was set up under Obamacare.
Although she was among the first governors in the nation to adopt the health care law’s Medicaid expansion,Martinez opposed the Affordable Care Act. Sanchez reiterated her opposition Thursday. “Governor Martinez has made it crystal clear that she opposes Obamacare, because it hurts small businesses and raises premiums on our families,” he said.
