In Santa Fe, state agencies galore made their case for a piece of the state’s expanding general fund this week as they presented budget requests. The newest agency pitched a second year budget $3.1 billion more than its first year’s
The New Mexico Health Care Authority, which took over the responsibilities of the Human Services Department, along with various departments from other agencies in July, requested $15.5 billion for fiscal year '26.
The majority of that, almost 86%, would come from federal funds, the rest would come from the state.
Secretary Kari Armijo, the HCA’s director, told the Legislative Finance Committee a large part of the jump from a $12.1 billion budget in its first year is for a program that will be completely federally funded.
“As part of the Healthcare Authority transition, we have also added federal funds for the new Hospital Directed Payment program of about $1.2 billion so that's all reflected in the agency's budget.”
The program is meant to raise Medicaid payouts to attract and keep doctors in the state, and help struggling hospitals.
“This is a historic investment for New Mexico. The Medicaid rate, through this directed payment, will be at the average commercial rate.”
That would represent a huge bump for rates that oftentimes don’t even cover the cost of procedures, according to the American Hospital Association.
During the request presentation, Republican Senator Bill Sharer, the House Minority Leader, pushed Armijo to focus on results, asking if there are fewer people requiring behavioral health services now.
“We keep saying there's more access, more access, more access, but are there fewer people that need it?” he said. “Are we solving any problems, individual human problems?”
Armijo said in the case of mental illness the goal is often treatment rather than a cure, and that there has been some reduction in overdose deaths but no one is quite sure why.
“I would say that there's probably still not enough treatment,” she said. “It takes a long time for people to get better from a mental mental illness or from substance use disorder, and it takes a commitment from the individual.”
Armijo said six months in the department has made strides, like paying for traditional Native practices with Medicaid, and even managing to clear their Medicaid and SNAP backlogs.
Support for this coverage comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
