Redistricting Red and Blue

Here at New Mexico in Focus, we have the privilege and challenge of analyzing complex governmental systems and processes that impact us all, yet which few people may truly understand. The federal health care program Medicaid is one of those systems. And after Congress passed the most severe cuts in the program’s history through President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill last month, millions of Americans will face major changes in how they receive and pay for their health care.    

In New Mexico, we’re going to feel it more than any other state in the country. That’s because we have the nation’s highest per capita percentage of state residents reliant on the program. That’s 38.5% of the state’s population, more than 800,000 people. The New Mexico Healthcare Authority estimates about 90,000 people could lose coverage completely through the program by the time all of the cuts are phased in over the next 10 years. Another quarter-million people will have to fork out more money for co-pays, while navigating new work requirements and other added bureaucratic obstacles.

That 10-year process dismantling foundational government support programs will span multiple election cycles. But with each passing year, the task of potentially rebuilding them will become more and more difficult.