NM budget expert expects Medicaid work requirements out of Congress

Yahoo

13-05-2025

Charles Sallee interviews for a promotion to lead the Legislative Finance Committee on Aug. 17, 2023 at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM)
One of the New Mexico Legislature's top budget advisers says he expects the federal government's planned budget cuts to make it harder to qualify for the state's health insurance program for low-income people.
Medicaid is under threat from the executive branch and Congress. On Sunday, House Republicans released a plan that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates would cut $715 billion cut to Medicaid funding. As of publication on Tuesday, a U.S. House committee tasked with that work was starting what was expected to be a long and grueling session on the proposals.
Also on Tuesday, at the state Legislative Finance Committee's first meeting since this year's legislative session, Director Charles Sallee told lawmakers that in the worst-case scenario, the Republican proposal would translate to cuts of more than $1.1 billion for New Mexico's Medicaid program.
Sallee said work requirements for some Medicaid patients are 'guaranteed' to be included in the Congressional budget as an additional eligibility condition for nondisabled adults without dependents on Medicaid. That could dramatically increase the number of people who don't qualify for health insurance under the program, he said.
'It remains to be seen just how tough Congress will make the work requirements,' Sallee said.
Whether people who lose their Medicaid coverage will be able to find a low-cost or free alternative health insurance policy through the state's BeWell exchange, or lose coverage altogether remains an open question, he said.
Sallee also said provider taxes, which the state government levies on nurses and hospitals, are on the chopping block. That could upend programs designed to enhance service quality in those facilities, he said.
Sen. Linda Trujillo (D-Santa Fe) asked whether Congress is considering the potential increase in social costs of people losing their health insurance, and Sallee said no.
'Part of the benefit of giving people access to health insurance is that they'll go to their doctor for ear infections or things that you don't need to go to the emergency room for,' Trujillo said. 'That's an indirect cost that's going to increase, because it costs thousands of dollars more to go and get your ear looked at in an emergency room than it does to go to your health care provider.'
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