New Mexico Medicaid recipients far outstrip any other state

The Rio Grande Foundation is doing some research on the shortage of medical professionals in the State and ran across the following chart from Kaiser Family Foundation. We have known for many years that New Mexico has a lot of people on Medicaid, the federal/state health program for the poor.

What’s shocking is that 34% of New Mexicans are on the program. The percent of people on Medicaid in the next-highest state, Louisiana, is “just” 28%. Among New Mexico’s neighbors, 22% of Arizonians are on Medicaid which is the highest among our neighbors. Just 11% of Utahns are on Medicaid. It is unsurprising that Utah has a very high workforce participation rate while New Mexico’s is quite low.

New Mexico policymakers have tremendous financial incentives to boost Medicaid participation. The State receives a 74% federal match on traditional Medicaid Services and a 90% match on services provided under the “ObamaCare” expansion.