"No available appointments": What's going on with healthcare?

Guest essay by Dr. Angela Bratton

Introducing Boomtown Guest Essays

We’re excited to announce a new feature on Boomtown: Guest essays. This series will spotlight voices from across our community and beyond, offering thoughtful perspectives on issues that shape Los Alamos and its residents. Our first essay, penned by Dr. Angela Bratton, delves into New Mexico’s healthcare access crisis and its profound local impact.

Public policy and your healthcare access

by Dr. Angela Bratton

For Los Alamos County residents, healthcare access has become an unexpected challenge. We live in a relatively wealthy and educated community, and most of us have good health insurance coverage. Yet coverage and cash do not get you access to medical providers if they have no available appointments. By the end of this year, Los Alamos will lose two more local specialists and a physical therapy option. We will all wait longer and travel further for appointments, if we can get one at all. I recently saw a patient with symptoms, who had been diagnosed w…