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Lawsuit seeks insurance coverage for medical cannabis
New Mexico Top Organics-Ultra Health filed a class-action lawsuit Friday in the Second Judicial District against seven health insurance providers, seeking coverage for the cost of medical cannabis. “The idea of health insurance plans paying for medical cannabis may seem like an impossible dream, but all the foundational elements have already fallen into place,” CEO & President of Ultra Health Duke Rodriguez said in a statement. “Revolutionizing behavioral healthcare in New Mexico will take only a few small steps, rather than a giant leap.” The suit follows a February letter the company sent to medical insurers and state agencies arguing cannabis is a “statutorily approved medication for a variety of behavioral health disorders.” The suit represents the company along with six plaintiffs, including state Sen. Jacob Candelaria, DTS-Albuquerque. Five of those plaintiffs, including Candelaria, were prescribed medical cannabis for post-traumatic stress disorder, which the Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee made an eligible condition in 2009. According to the suit, of the approximately 130,345 qualified medical cannabis patients, 71,101 of them suffer from PTSD. The suit also argues other courts have addressed the question of whether medical cannabis is a “reasonable and necessary” medical service in the affirmative. For instance, the state Court of Appeals ruled in February medical cannabis should not be subject to gross receipts tax and under the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act should “be considered the equivalent of the use of any other medication.” Moreover, Senate Bill 317, the suit argues, requires insurance companies to cover the full cost of behavioral health services. “There will be more patients identified who have been harmed by insurers not lawfully abiding to the statutory duty of eliminating any cost sharing related to behavioral health services,” Ultra Health President and CEO Duke Rodriguez tells the Albuquerque Journal. “Insurers have not acted in good faith.”
Sazón chef wins James Beard award
Sazón Chef Fernando Olea has been named the best chef in the Southwest by the James Beard Foundation, a distinction that includes the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Oklahoma. The awards were announced last night during a ceremony at the Lyric Opera in Chicago. Upon learning he had won, Olea ran jubilantly to the stage (right around 1:53 mark of the previous link), wearing a bedazzled cowboy hat and jacket. “It’s incredible to be here,” he said in his acceptance speech. “It’s a dream come true. God is amazing. Thank you God! Thank you, America. What we are living today only happens in America. Dreams come true.” Olea said he had moved to the US 37 years ago “looking for a dream. I am so proud and humbly taking this honor on behalf of all the workers in the restaurant industry.” In his speech, Olea referenced receiving a Faces of Diversity Award in 2020 from the National Restaurant Association: “What I said…I will repeat it here…this industry employs many people of different countries. Without them, we wouldn’t be what we are. Thank you to all the people; this goes for them…My dream was bringing food of Mexico to hospitality and this is a dream come true.”
Fire officials face fire weather today before end-of-week rain
Fire officials will hold an update on the Midnight Fire in Rio Arriba County this morning. Yesterday, the fire increased in several places, with some growth on the northeast corner and to the southwest and, later in the day, to the southeast. According to the Carson National Forest, air resources were active until winds made flying unsafe. The fire at last reporting was just shy of 4,000 acres. The Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire is at 320,495 acres and 70% containment. In last night’s community meeting, officials discussed the ongoing post-fire work occurring, but also noted increased fire activity in the Pecos Wilderness due to the increased temperatures, wind and low humidity. “We still have a wildfire out there,” Public Information Officer Bill Morse said. “We still have a heck of a lot of work getting done.” Tom Bird, incident meteorologist, said yesterday’s red flag conditions will continue today, with high temperatures and wind. Starting Thursday into next week, however, Bird said there will be a chance for precipitation and increased moisture.
COVID-19 by the numbers
New cases: 2,494 (includes the weekend); 547,351 total cases
Deaths: two; Santa Fe County has had 306 total deaths thus far; there have been 7,863 total fatalities statewide. The cumulative death figure from DOH has been adjusted, according to an email from a department spokeswoman (as of last Friday, the count had reached 7,873), for the following reason: “From May 12, 2020 through February 9, 2021, 12 COVID-19 deaths were reported publicly following notification of a COVID-related death from a facility to NMDOH before receipt of the death certificate. Because death reporting is based on death certificates and we did not subsequently receive a death certificate associated with these individuals, we are removing these 12 deaths today from the cumulative death count for COVID-19 deaths in NM.” Hospitalizations: 135. Patients on ventilators: 14.
Case rates: According to the most recent DOH report on geographical trends for COVID-19, as of June 6, the state had recorded 6,104 new cases in the preceding seven days—a nearly 55% increase from the prior seven-day period. Grant and Santa Fe counties had the two highest daily case rates per 100,000 population in the most recent time period: 82.5 and 64.8, respectively.
Community levels: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “community levels” tracking system—which uses case rates along with two hospital metrics in combination for its framework—for the seven-day period of June 2-9, San Juan and McKinley counties both show high—or “red”—levels. There are now 17 counties, including Santa Fe County, classified with yellow or “medium” levels—up from nine the week prior. CDC recommendations for individuals and communities based on the community-level rankings can be found here.
Resources: Vaccine registration; Booster registration Free at-home rapid antigen tests; Self-report a positive COVID-19 test result to the health department; COVID-19 treatment info: oral treatments Paxlovid (age 12+) and Molnupiravir (age 18+); and monoclonal antibody treatments. Toolkit for immunocompromised individuals. People seeking treatment who do not have a medical provider can call NMDOH’s COVID-19 hotline at 1-855-600-3453.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.
Listen up
Today brings ample opportunities for hearing about science. Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Thom Mason will share news from the lab and answer questions from attendees from 6 to 7 pm in an online town hall. Questions also can be submitted in advance. The event is open to all with no advanced registration required; find the password and link here.
This evening’s 7:30 pm community lecture from the Santa Fe Institute, “Knowledge, Prosperity and Economic Complexity: How are They Connected?,” tackles tough questions in order to “shed light on why the world is so unequal, why and how some laggard countries catch up and others fall further behind, why inequality within countries is so large, why we need governments and why it is so hard for people to get along.” Lecturer Ricardo Hausmann, a Harvard University professor and director of Harvard’s Center for International Development, also is an external faculty member at SFI and recently became co-chair of its Science Board. Register for the free lecture through the Lensic Performing Arts Center box office; you can also watch the livestream via SFI’s YouTube page, with live updates via SFI’s Twitter.
Art out of this world
Hyperallergic magazine features an essay by New Mexico artist Eric J. García, “The Real Space Invaders,” which details the physical and thought processes García has been employing during his artist residency at the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program. " Being in Roswell, García writes, “I of course had to make art about aliens,” but he approached the topic using “a new perspective on the term ‘alien’ that the US government uses to identify a foreigner who doesn’t have proper immigration status. By using the same definition of the word ‘alien’ in conjunction with the satirical context of extraterrestrials, we can conclude that aliens are not only real but they did in fact arrive, invade, and conquer these lands long ago.” García also used ink he made from from a “huge nopal cactus” growing near the residency compound: “Since I am using an Indigenous perspective that looks out at the alien colonizers, I thought I should create my drawings by using something native to the area,” he notes. After discovering the cacti, “I picked some to eat, discovered how the juice stained my hands, and immediately thought to myself ‘I have to make ink from them.’ After many ‘scientific’ trials and errors experimenting with the juice, I conjured an ‘ink’ that I am still figuring out, the light-purple ink in this series of alien drawings.”
Prepare for the harvest
While it seems a little early to be thinking about fall festivals (summer officially starts next week on June 21), US News & World Report has nonetheless just released its list of the top 24 fall and harvest festivals in the US. Two New Mexico fall festivals make the cut: the Albuquerque International Balloon Festival (Oct 1-9; tickets on sale now), where “revelers can eat, drink, photograph, dance, shop and otherwise enjoy everything Albuquerque has to offer—which includes fantastic fall weather” and take part in the festival’s 50th anniversary. Meanwhile, Santa Fe’s Wine & Chile Fiesta (Sept. 21-25; tickets go on sale July 5) offers a chance for “gourmands” to enjoy “cooking demonstrations, wine classes, brunch, luncheons and other culinary activities” throughout the city and check out “some of the biggest names in the wine industry,” along with “the region’s top restaurants and chefs.” Our weather also is (should be anyway) fantastic in the fall. If committing to fall festivals feels onerous, be sure to check out SFR’s guide to the city’s summer festivals.
Red flag warning
We’re under a red flag warning today, according to the National Weather Service, with sunny skies and a high temperature near 88 degrees, west wind 10 to 20 mph. Fingers crossed for rain at the end of the week.
Thanks for reading! Lacking air-conditioning, The Word is watching off-season polar bear videos in an attempt to evoke cooler temperatures (this is the closest she wants to get to polar bears after reading this Backpacker story about a man who survived a polar bear attack).