A bill called the “So New Mexicans Can Move Act” will be introduced during this session of the state Legislature to help those with limb loss receive an equitable form of care.
“In New Mexico, with this bill, what we’re ensuring is that we create an equitable form of care for all New Mexicans so we can empower them and protect all New Mexicans who unfortunately had to experience limb loss or limb difference,” Kyle Stepp, who had his left leg amputated explained to KOB. “The second part of this bill, which is really exciting, is that our goal is to become the first state in the country to provide coverage for prosthetics for physical activity. Because, unfortunately, insurance says that physical activity is not medically necessary.”
Prosthetics and other similar devices aren’t easy to get due to a lack of insurance coverage and high out-of-pocket costs. Rep. Liz Thomson and Rep.-Elect Kathleen Cates are sponsors of the “So New Mexicans Can Move Act.”
The bill impacts limb loss and limb difference and also addresses health issues caused by a lack of mobility and poor-fitting prosthetics.
“Currently, orthotics or prosthetics that are purchased at the most basic level can only be done at certain times,” Rep.-Elect Cates told KOB. “They are ill-fitting, but young people are constantly growing, causing injury. They’re so basic to where you can’t be active, you can’t run, which impedes employment which is another accessibility issue.”
Thomson said, “It’s about quality of life and being able to move and being healthy.”
Stepp is in favor of the bill along with Callaway Lewis. Stepp already had a metal implant in his leg after bone cancer when he was injured in October 2020 in a downhill mountain bike accident. “I had to have my left leg amputated above my knee,” he said
Lewis lost his leg in a rock climbing accident in 2021. “I was up on the Sandias and the rocks slid,” he said. “I had to be rushed to the hospital and had to have my leg amputated.”
Now both are physically active thanks to prosthetics but understand not all are so fortunate.
“In New Mexico, we’re hiking and biking, but this can happen to anybody. Disease can happen to anyone and we can all enter the limb loss community in an instant,” said Laura Lewis, Callaway’s mom.