The New Mexico Senate approved a bill on Wednesday that sought to shield affordable health insurance for tens of thousands of residents threatened by federal aid and Medicaid cuts.
House Bill 4 headed to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham for signature. The bipartisan measure increases revenue for the state’s Health Care Affordability Fund, New Mexico’s primary tool to keep premiums affordable for working families and small businesses.
The bill passed on a bipartisan 24-12 vote.
State officials said last year’s federal decisions eliminated enhanced premium tax credits and reduced Medicaid funding, putting tens of thousands of New Mexicans at risk.
“The federal government may be cutting back, but New Mexico is not,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement.
The governor described the bill as a measure to preserve coverage and ensure individuals can continue accessing doctors, prescriptions, and other essential health care.
House Majority Leader Reena Szczepanski sponsored the bill. Representatives Elizabeth Thomson, Joseph Hernandez, and Anita Gonzales, as well as Senator Roberto “Bobby” J. Gonzales, also sponsored the measure.
Szczepanski said the state has worked to keep healthcare affordable amid the decline of federal support. Under the Affordable Care Act, the lawmaker noted, coverage has continued to grow, and premiums did not spike in New Mexico when federal support was reduced.
The governor’s FY27 executive budget recommendation ensures that funding for health care affordability programs supported by the fund would continue. Estimates had shown the investments could protect coverage for up to 46,600 residents and lower healthcare costs for as many as 122,000 people statewide.
Gonzales said the bill enhances the state’s capacity to support coverage for affordability programs in the long term.