SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico’s first detailed analysis of congressional Republicans’ plan to overhaul Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act shows stark choices lie ahead about which residents of the state will continue to receive Medicaid coverage and to what extent.
The briefing was released Wednesday from the state Legislature’s year-round budget office. It finds that maintaining expanded Medicaid health care coverage for low-income adults in New Mexico could cost state government up to $140 million a year, as federal matching funds are reduced for new or returning Medicaid enrollees.
Other points of concern include changes to minimum federal eligibility guidelines for children, and how new caps on per-capita Medicaid spending will affect a growing population of nursing home residents and elderly-care patients. Medicaid enrollment in New Mexico has swelled beyond 40 percent of the population under Obama’s signature health care law.
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