Hello and welcome to Healthcare is a Human Right NM, where we slay sacred & corporate cows in the service of healthcare justice for all in New Mexico!

I hope to offer a public forum to share information about participatory movements for access to healthcare as a basic human right in Central New Mexico, USA. Along the way we'll think critically about how our privatized healthcare system has failed low-income New Mexicans. We'll share & learn about our state's specific healthcare needs, about countries and states with similar issues, and solutions that are working elsewhere and may work here in the struggle for healthcare justice.

Demystifying healthcare access, policy and funding in NM is an important part of the deal, but, rest easy: when healthcare is recognized as a basic human right, it is easier to fund & provide in a fair, rational and non-political way. Join in on the discussions! Share your stories, knowledge and opinions and take control of your healthcare system!

If we don't do it the "free"-market will, and we all know there is nothing free about that - just ask one of NM's 450,000+ uninsured.

Some basic NM health and social tidbits:
- NM is the poorest state in the US with a high uninsured rate and huge racial health disparities in many chronic and preventable diseases and conditions like diabetes, accidents, suicides, low birth weight, unintended teen pregnancy, mental illness and developmental disabilities.
- Our state is home to the largest concentrated stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world, and the atomic bomb was built and tested here first. These WMD's aren't cheap to make/keep.
- Despite these grim facts NM also boasts strong civic, cultural and multi-generational pride in its status as a "majority minority" state. Most New Mexicans, like growing numbers of the US, are mestizo or mixed race/ethnicity. Over 50% of Census-countable New Mexicans call themselves racial minorities; this makes us one of the most diverse states in the US! Native Americans have lived in what was Mexico 100 years ago, and what is now known as NM, for centuries. NM Hispanios (or Hispanics) claim ancestry from Spanish colonial settlers 400 years ago and have lived here ever since. African Americans first came to NM seeking freedom from slavery and to fight for its eradication in the Civil War. Anglos migrated to NM from the Midwest and East Coast en masse in waves, some to seek a healthy climate for recovery from tuberculosis in the early 1900's. Mexican and Latin American immigrants come to NM from points South and West seeking jobs and political stability.

Visit the links to the right and let me know what else you'd like to see here.
What information do you need to be better prepared to demand healthcare justice for your family?

Please share your comments, stories and questions with the world and each other on this blog...talking with and to each other is the only way we'll succeed in shaping a healthcare system that works for all who live in New Mexico. United we stand, divided we fall.

In solidarity,
Terry Schleder, MPH