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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Feldman
DATE TYPED 02/05/05 HB
SHORT TITLE
Oppose Federal Medicaid Spending Caps
SB SJM 1
ANALYST Weber
APPROPRIATION
Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY05
FY06
FY05
FY06
NFI
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Human Services Department (HSD)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
Senate Joint Memorial 1 requests the New Mexico congressional delegation to support the oppo-
sition of any Medicaid reform proposal that seeks to impose a cap on federal Medicaid spending
in any form.
Significant Issues
In New Mexico twenty-two percent of the population is on Medicaid and enrollment and expen-
ditures continue to grow. It is projected that $570,000,000 in state general funds will be required
to operate the Medicaid program in New Mexico in SFY ‘06, with no expansions.
Medicaid is an entitlement program. At present, the federal government matches state general
fund expenditures in each state, the amount of which is dependent upon the state’s per capita in-
come status relative to other states. For SFY ’06, the federal match rate is approximately 72%.
As an entitlement program, the state is assured of receiving sufficient federal dollars to meet its
expenditures.
pg_0002
Senate Joint Memorial 1 -- Page 2
Should the federal government “block grant” or “cap” the amount of dollars it provides to each
state to operate its Medicaid program, the state, potentially, would be unable to leverage suffi-
cient federal dollars to operate the program at current levels
MW/njw