Democratic Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from high-risk insurance plans that critics says should have been shuttered in favor of cheaper Obamacare plans, Politico reported.
In fact, Lujan Grisham's firm, Delta Consulting Group, continues new enrollment for New Mexicans with serious illnesses despite premiums that are 10 percent higher than Obamacare plans, Politico reports.
Lujan Grisham is the top Democratic candidate for New Mexico's governor race, and she is the only Democrat who refused to provide tax returns. The Democratic primary is Tuesday.
Lujan Grisham co-founded the firm with Debbie Armstrong, a longtime political ally and the treasurer of her gubernatorial campaign, Politico reported.
Delta Consulting was paid in excess of $2 million to run the high-risk program between 2014 and 2017, when Obamacare had already kicked in, Politico reports.
Lujan Grisham denied to Politico that she exerted influence with the state to keep the high-risk program open.
"Absolutely not," Lujan Grisham told Politico. "Those are decisions that have to be made by the (high-risk pool) board, based on who they're serving."
And the program remains operations despite state Republicans' efforts to shut it down.
"I would consider that fraud," Republican Dan Foley, former minority whip of the New Mexico House, told Politico. "The high-risk pool was set up to cover people back in the day when we could disqualify someone for health insurance because of a pre-existing condition. That's the only reason why it was there."
Lujan Grisham sold her 50 percent stake in Delta Consulting in June 2017, six months after announcing she would run to replace termed-out Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, Politico reported.
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