By skyforbes 
From our partner KUNM: New Mexico expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and the number of people covered by the program will grow to more than 900,000 by the end of June. That’s about 44 percent of the state’s population.
Under the expansion, 244,000 people were added and the federal government picks up 95 percent of those premium costs right now. But New Mexico must still pony up matching funds for the rest of the program and lawmakers are grappling with a budget pounded by plummeting oil and gas revenues. Options could include cutting back on benefits, adding co-pays and lowering provider reimbursement rates. Looming on the horizon are proposals at the federal level to turn Medicaid into a block grant program.
Guests:
Sireesha Manne, attorney for New Mexico Center for Law and Poverty
Kelly O’Donnell, O’Donnell Economics & Strategy and RWJF Center for for Health Policy
Senator Steven Neville, R-Aztec, member of Legislative Finance Committee
Representative Debbie Armstrong, D-Albuquerque, Chair of Health and Human Services Committee
Steven Kopelman, Executive Director of New Mexico Association of Counties
Dr. Rick Madden, Belen physician.
People, Power and Democracy is a collaborative media project between KUNM, New Mexico in Depth, New Mexico PBS and the New Mexico News Port that explores the influence of money in New Mexico politics. Partial support for the project comes from the Thornburg Foundation.