Medicaid

Some 90,000 New Mexicans enrolled in Medicaid could soon have a harder time qualifying and the state's health agency is proactively trying to reach them.

Thousands of New Mexicans rely on Medicaid to get treatment for life-threatening substance use disorders. Keeping that coverage is about to get harder.

More New Mexicans on Medicaid are using more behavioral health services more often, and that’s driven up costs for the state. From 2023 to 2025, managed care organizations like Blue Cross Blue Shield and Presbyterian charged for an additional $230 million dollars in behavioral health services. That’s an increase of about 47%, every dollar of which was paid for by the state’s Medicaid program.

On Friday, before hosting a roundtable discussion about the effects of the federal budget bill’s impact on New Mexico’s health care, Senator Martin Heinrich got the story straight from the horse's mouth. The meeting was at First Nations Community Healthsource, where Heinrich talked to patients about what losing Medicaid would mean for them.

At a roundtable discussion hosted by Democratic U. S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (second from right) on Friday, experts, providers and more discussed the potential impacts to Medicaid, which covers 40% of New Mexicans, by what's known as the "Big Beautiful Bill." Heinrich says 96,000 people could lose health coverage and Troy Clark, president of the New Mexico Hospitals Association said six to eight hospitals might be forced to close if federal funds dry up.

Some of New Mexico’s top lawmakers and leaders gathered Thursday to discuss the potential impact of the federal “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” on the state’s most vulnerable populations. U.S. Representative Melanie Stansbury, and State Speaker of the House Javier Martinez, both Democrats, spoke at the CommonSpirit St.Joseph’s Children center along with President of the center, Allen Sanchez.

A sweeping budget bill has been moving its way through Congress that would drastically decrease funding for Medicaid. A recent study from Georgetown University found this would have a detrimental effect on rural maternal health, especially here in New Mexico.

New Mexico Healthcare Authority Secretary Kari Armijo, President of the New Mexico Hospital Association Troy Clark, and Dr. Nancy Wright, a pediatrician in Las Vegas discuss the impacts of potential Medicaid cuts in New Mexico.

An initial estimate finds that the state could lose more than $1 billion in Medicaid funding, and many other agencies and entities like universities would be affected.

Sen. Luján describes "dizzying" time in Washington