New Mexico hospitals and patients face closure from ‘domino effect’ of potential Medicaid cuts

This story was originally published at Source New Mexico, a NMPBS partner.

By Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico

Six to eight hospitals in New Mexico may be at risk of closing within 18 months if Congressional Republicans follow through with pursuing Medicaid cuts in the “big, beautiful bill,” advocates and hospital executives said Friday.

Hospital closures in rural areas would further burden doctors in urban areas and force higher wait times and costs for patients, according to Troy Clark, the CEO for the New Mexico Hospital Association, which represents all 47 of the state’s hospitals.

“If we lose providers in Las Cruces, Santa Fe will feel the effect. Just like a spider web, no matter where you touch it, the whole thing is going to shake,” Clark said.

Clark spoke as one of the guests at an Albuquerque roundtable hosted by the U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) with Medicaid users, practitioners and medical industry representatives from Albuquerque and surrounding areas about the potential impacts to Medicaid on New Mexico.

Per capita, New Mexicans rely on Medicaid, the joint federal and state program to help cover medical costs for some people with lower incomes, at the highest rate in the country. There are more than 830,000 New Mexicans enrolled, about 40% of the state, and just under half of those patients are children.

Medicaid reimburses school nurses for student care, said Cheri Brubaker, who oversees 135 nurses at Albuquerque Public Schools.

“We would lose over 50% of our nurses if the district was unable to pick up the cost,” Brubaker said. “If you’ve got children that have asthma and only occasionally need support, it’s still significant, because relying on people that are not trained to take care of these conditions, can create more emergencies.”

The current version of the spending bill would strip Medicaid coverage from nearly 11 million people by 2030, according to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office, although some could find alternative coverage. That would mean losses of coverage for at least 96,000 New Mexicans and nearly $11 billion in lost federal funds. The loss of insurance would strain emergency rooms and raise the costs for care overall, Heinrich said.

“That is the heart of why I have been so opposed to this bill,” he said. “You couldn’t design a budget reconciliation package that would be worse for the state of New Mexico than what we’re going to vote on.”

Medicaid cuts would worsen both primary and emergency systems and require “tough decisions” for hospital services moving forward, said Dr. Vesta Sandoval, chief medical officer at Lovelace Health Systems.

“It is really a domino effect, statewide,” Sandoval said. “It is going to affect every aspect of care, whether it’s schools, whether it’s clinics, or the hospitals.”

Senate Republicans leadership promised a vote before July 4, even as members of the party worry cuts will shutter rural hospitals across the country.

Heinrich said he was in talks with Republican counterparts in Western states to convince them of the potential consequences.

“How about we don’t close them in the first place?” Heinrich said Friday about hospitals. “I think that’s the best solution; it’s always easier to improve on what you have than rebuild from scratch.”

Medicaid makes up nearly 30% of many hospitals’ income in New Mexico, according to a March memo from the New Mexico Health Care Authority. Without the federal portion, hospitals could cut further services or close completely.

Clark told Source NM after the roundtable that he would not name which hospitals face the biggest threat of closing or the areas in which they operate, in order to prevent “panic,” but said that all hospitals across NM face losses with Medicaid cuts.

“The reality is they’re all at risk, since we have so much Medicaid here,” he said. “Are they at risk of closure, I don’t think so. But they are at risk of restricting services that impact everyone.”

New Mexico state lawmakers will hear presentations in the coming week on further concerns over Medicaid cuts.

This story was originally published at Source New Mexico, a NMPBS partner.