County joins lawsuit against unexpected health bill

The Quay County Commission is among 24 counties suing a member of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration, accusing the state of illegally billing them hefty amounts to cover a deficit in a state health benefits fund.

The petition for declaratory judgment was filed on June 30 in the 7th Judicial District Court in Socorro County. Attorneys for the New Mexico Association of Counties filed the 29-page lawsuit on the counties’ behalf.

The defendant is Robert Doucette Jr., who is Cabinet secretary of New Mexico’s General Services Department.

All of Quay County’s neighbors are co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit, including Union, San Miguel, Guadalupe, Curry, De Baca, Roosevelt and Harding counties.

The suit states the counties “cumulatively received millions of dollars in invoices for unexplained deficits in the health care fund.”

The suit states the state health fund ran a $119 million deficit last year and that counties have not received an increase in premiums “for many years.”

The suit noted Lujan Grisham issued a line-item video that would have authorized an increase in the health plan’s premiums in fiscal year 2024.

It stated the 24 counties received an email from Doucette that included amounts due “that will need to be paid by the pool participants to assist in fund solvency.”

The New Mexico Association of Counties sent a letter that objected to the assessments and asked for documents relating to the state’s decision. The lawsuit stated that Doucette provided no documents in response.

Counties then received invoices for the health plan in mid-June. Late payments, which were due “on the 20th of the month,” would be subject to a 1.5% late fee and termination of the program if the outstanding amount wasn’t paid within 60 days.

Collectively, the counties were invoiced nearly $8.2 million. Quay County’s bill was about $151,000.

“The emails and invoices contained no accounting on how the assessments were calculated and provided no mechanism for appeal or review of the assessments,” the lawsuit states.

It also questions the lawfulness of the assessments and that sections of the General Appropriations Act are vague.

The lawsuit asks that the invoices be declared unconstitutional and that the General Services Department return any funds might have been remitted from the invoices.

During a Quay County Commission budget work session in May, county manager Daniel Zamora said the bill, which came just days before, was unexpected.

He said the region’s two lawmakers — state Sen. Pat Woods and state Rep. Jack Chatfield — didn’t inform the county about it, nor did the county’s lobbyist at the time, Clinton D. Harden and Associates.

“The part that offended me is nobody knew about this,” county finance director Cheryl Simpson said of the state’s billing.

Joy Esparsen, executive director of New Mexico Counties, said during the work session the state hadn’t raised health premiums in six years.

John Garcia, deputy county manager of Sandoval County, said the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the state’s financial woes in its health system.

“The reason this exists is because they governor didn’t address this prudently,” he said. “Here we are, holding the bag for a problem we didn’t create.”

Zamora said “we’re not paying” the bill.

Quay County’s attorney, Warren Frost, declined to comment about the lawsuit when contacted through email.

A General Services Department spokesman that was contacted by the Albuquerque Journal about the lawsuit declined to comment, citing active litigation.

Six New Mexico municipalities, including Portales, also have filed a separate lawsuit in Socorro County against the health-plan invoices.