ALBUQUERQUE, NM—The New Mexico Legislative Health and Human Services (LHHS) Committee will hold a hearing today, starting at 12:30 p.m., on the serious cuts the Medicaid program faces in the Human Services Department’s (HSD) Centennial Care 2.0 waiver proposal. The hearing will take place at the Science and Technology Center Rotunda at UNM, 801 University Blvd. SE in Albuquerque, NM.

The proposal eliminates certain coverage and health benefits for low-income patients and imposes new patient fees in the form of co-pays and premiums to children enrolled in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the working disabled, and low-income adults living just above the poverty line.

“Medicaid has worked well for New Mexico. The state should focus on ensuring our families can get the care they need to stay healthy, not cut coverage for the people who can least afford it,” said Abuko D. Estrada, an attorney with the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. “At a time when our economy is struggling, these cuts will drive families into further financial hardships and throw away federal funding that helps sustain thousands of jobs.”

Currently for every state dollar New Mexico invests in Medicaid, the state receives four dollars back from the federal government. The Centennial Care 2.0 waiver proposal cuts will result in the loss of federal money for Medicaid that supports over 50,000 jobs and helps drive the New Mexico economy.

Centennial Care 2.0’s most harmful cuts to Medicaid include:

• Charging low-income patients with new fees in the form of co-pays and premiums for children in CHIP, the working disabled, and low-income adults living just above the poverty line, which could result in thousands of people losing coverage altogether (as studies have shown);
• Eliminating retroactive coverage protection that pays for Medicaid applicants’ past medical bills, from three months prior to applying for Medicaid, putting New Mexico’s families in severe medical debt and leaving healthcare providers with uncompensated care costs;
• Ending a transitional Medicaid program that will result in coverage loss for families that have been living in deep poverty, creating financial hardships and interrupting health coverage when they enter new jobs or accept raises that place them just above the eligibility threshold for Medicaid; and
• Reducing important health benefits for very low-income adults with dependent children, eliminating Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) protections for children who are 19 and 20 year olds, and opening the door for the HSD secretary to make drastic cuts to more benefits in the future.

WHAT:
LHHS Committee Hearing on the Centennial Care 2.0 Waiver Proposal

WHO/WHEN:       
12:30 p.m.
Presentations about Concerns about Medicaid Cuts
Abuko D. Estrada, Attorney, New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty
David Machledt, Ph.D., Senior Policy Analyst, National Health Law Program

2:30 p.m.
Presentation on Medicaid Waiver
HSD Secretary Brent Earnest

4:30 p.m.
Public Comment

WHERE:   
Science and Technology Center Rotunda at UNM
801 University Blvd SE
Albuquerque, NM

Today’s hearing will be the only opportunity for providing comments in Albuquerque. Other public meetings will take place in Santa Fe, Las Cruces, and Las Vegas.