Committee backs study to map health coverage gaps for higher-education workers

A House Education Committee sponsor introduced House Memorial 4 as a request that the Legislative Finance Committee study options to expand health insurance access for public higher-education educators and graduate student employees.

The sponsor said the memorial will collect and compile existing data from institutions to identify gaps in eligibility, affordability and coverage. “We really wanna look at overall and evaluate health insurance availability and affordability across all of the institutions,” the sponsor said on the record.

Zach Strasburg, research and data chair for United Graduate Workers at the University of New Mexico, told the committee the student-conducted study of the 2024–25 academic year covered roughly 3,300 graduate workers statewide and found large disparities: UNM offers employer-sponsored medical coverage for its graduate workers while other state institutions generally do not. “These workers do not get any medical coverage,” Strasburg said of the non-UNM campuses, adding that dental and vision coverage are also largely absent.

Graduate students and union representatives testified in support. Luis Dominguez, a UNM physics PhD student, described classmates who struggle to pay medical bills and said some have left the country for care. John Dirich of AFT New Mexico and Ernesto Longa of United Academics at UNM urged the committee to use the study to inform recruitment and retention policy and to examine eligibility thresholds that leave adjuncts and part-time faculty uncovered.

The committee’s fiscal-impact review notes an estimated cost to the LFC of $100,000–$200,000 but the sponsor said the memorial contains no appropriation and expects institutions and existing agency surveys to provide most data. The sponsor also said the study would involve the Legislative Finance Committee, Legislative Education Study Committee, Higher Education Department, Department of Finance and Administration, and the Health Care Authority.

Representative Locke moved a due-pass recommendation and, with no opposition in committee, the body recorded a due pass for House Memorial 4. The memorial does not itself change law; it asks for a study and report that could inform future legislation.