zlacker

That's wild. New Mexico is fairly notorious for having terrible medical and social safety net stuff.

I have a friend that had a daughter that lived there, and had serious mental health issues, and I'd hear nightmare stories about how bad the state was for that.

I have family with similar issues, in New York, and they get an amazing amount of state support.

>>ChrisM+(OP)
This is paid for by the oil and gas boom in Southern NM.

The medical situation is getting worse by the year, though. I don’t think it’s just a matter of shoveling more dollars

>>lp251+l1
What I was told, was it was anti-undocumented stuff.

People don’t want immigrants getting help that residents pay for, so they turn the spigots off for everyone.

>>lp251+l1
I went on a road trip through Southern NM a couple years ago. Highly recommend stopping at Gila National Forest - it's a certified "dark park", remote enough from sources of light to see the Milky Way with the naked eye.

One thing that struck me - towns down there had a template. 90% of towns we drove through were just a blood plasma "donation" center, a dollar store, a gas station, and a cemetery. Very bleak existence out there, oil and gas boom notwithstanding.

>>ChrisM+84
I haven't seen anything like that. The biggest factor you can clearly point to is that NM has some of the lowest salaries for doctors combined with some of the highest medical insurance premiums.

>>pavon+N6
If you live there, and don't agree, then I stand corrected. I was told this by someone that lives there, but that's a sample size of 1 (from Albuquerque).

>>ChrisM+(OP)
I live in rural New Mexico and medical services are very bad here.

I took my GF to the emergency room once with chest pains (turned out to be a lung infection). After an hours long wait we got to see the "doctor". The doctor came in in street clothes which were wrinkled jeans and a frumpy polo. He was not smart and from appearance, speech and thinking patterns easily could have been the janitorial mid level manager (no disrespect meant to janitorial staff). They did a chest scan, he said he would review it, then told her to go home and take a Motrin and then she got mysterious bills for the next year from the event.

I would go to Texas which isn't far if the emergency permitted it, and in fact they do airlift most serious cases directly to Lubbock.

>>pbk1+C5
That is a very common pattern. Probably 90% of poor rural America is like that. And the lucky towns have those stores, others not even.

>>mythrw+ma
Heh, I had a discussion with a security guard about rattlesnakes once while working in rural NM. "If you get bit by a rattlesnake, man, get on the radio and call me. I'll get you to the hospital. But we're going to Cruces... I'm not taking you to the hospital in T or C... you'll fuckin' die there."

>>tonyar+Pf
Hahah. Probably should keep going another 45 minutes to El Paso in my opinion.

>>lp251+l1
The icing on the cake there was that they just gerrymandered NM recently in a way that took all representation away from southern NM.

I know other states have as well, so nothing new there, but seeing as they basically fund all the state's social projects, felt a bit done wrong.

>>mythrw+ma
>and in fact they do airlift most serious cases directly to Lubbock.

Just to be clear for those not familiar with the relative position of cities in Texas, imagine getting hurt in Illinois and the EMT's being like "the hospitals around here are shit, we're going to Gary".

>>potato+dw
I mean... as someone living in rural-lite, the hospitals in my county are crap; going to a big city nearby is a better choice. I don't know about hospitals in Chicago, and I wouldn't think Gary is big enough to be a hospital magnet, but it doesn't seem that out of the norm. Of course, Mr. Willson ruined Gary for me; I'd die if I went to a hospital there.

>>pbk1+C5
That sounds amazing. It is now on the travel list!

>>mythrw+ma
Meanwhile, my worst experience with US healthcare was in a small town in Texas.