New Mexico Medicaid Income Limits 2026: Turquoise Care

Signing up is free, and Turquoise Care pays for medical care rather than sending you money. To compare New Mexico with other states, see our national Medicaid income limits guide.

New Mexico Medicaid Income Limits by Household Size (April 2026 to March 2027)

HCA uses 8 income columns to sort applicants into its numbered categories of eligibility (COE), and a child's age moves the line by thousands of dollars. Per the MAD 222 chart, effective April 1, 2026 through March 31, 2027, these are the monthly gross income limits:

Source: New Mexico HCA, MAD 222, Women, Children, & Family Medicaid Categories (opens in a new tab), "Effective 4/1/26 - 3/31/27." The fixed-standard percentage is a Grantsights calculation ($765 divided by the $2,277 poverty line for three). Medicaid.gov (opens in a new tab) lists New Mexico's parent level as 37%, a figure set as of December 2023.

How the children's bands stack up. Children under 6 get Medicaid up to 240% (categories 400 and 402), then CHIP from 240% to 300% (category 420). Children 6 to 18 get Medicaid up to 190% (categories 401 and 403), then CHIP from 190% to 240% (category 421). The HCA pamphlet notes that category 401 runs to 138% and category 403 picks up from 138% to 190%.

Yearly equivalents for adults and children

Grantsights multiplied HCA's monthly MAD 222 figures by 12. HCA's own yearly numbers may differ by a few dollars because of rounding.

Seniors, disability and long-term care limits

New Mexico doesn't run a separate poverty-level Medicaid group for seniors outside SSI, so most older adults qualify through SSI, nursing home or waiver Medicaid, or a Medicare savings program.

Source: HCA, New Mexico Medical Assistance Programs eligibility pamphlet, July 2026 (opens in a new tab). The pamphlet says people with less than $50 in income must apply for SSI before institutional Medicaid.

The Working Disabled Individuals program (category 074) also covers people with disabilities whose earnings put them over other limits; HCA's pamphlet describes the group but Grantsights didn't find a 2026 dollar figure for it.

How New Mexico Counts Your Income

New Mexico runs 2 income systems, and the Income Support Division (ISD) office decides which one fits your category.

MAGI rules cover categories 100, 200, 300, 301 and the children's and CHIP categories. Income follows federal tax definitions, so wages, self-employment profit, unemployment benefits and taxable Social Security count. The household is built from tax-filing relationships, and a pregnant woman's unborn children are "included in budget group," according to the HCA pamphlet. MAD 222 says there's no resource standard for MAGI Medicaid categories.

The 5% disregard equals 5% of the poverty line for your household size: $67 for one person, $114 for three and $138 for four, per the MAD 222 chart. HCA's chart adds two New Mexico-specific notes. For categories 402 and 403, the disregard applies only when the applicant has other health insurance, and for category 200 it applies only for someone 65 or older or eligible for Medicare. HCA also gives children in categories 400, 402 and 420 continuous eligibility up to age six.

Non-MAGI rules cover SSI-related, institutional, waiver and Medicare savings groups. Those use SSI-style income counting and, for institutional and waiver care, a resource test.

For example, a family of three in New Mexico earning $3,300 a month gross (one parent, a 4-year-old and a 10-year-old) splits three ways. The parent is specifically $158 over after the disregard ($3,300 minus $114 is $3,186, against the $3,028 adult limit), so the parent doesn't qualify for category 100. The 4-year-old is far under the $5,464 Medicaid line for children under 6. The 10-year-old is over 138% but under the $4,326 limit for category 403, so that child still gets full Medicaid, not CHIP. The parent would shop on BeWell, New Mexico's marketplace.

New Mexico Medicaid Asset Limits

$2,000 is the resource limit for a single person on institutional care or waiver Medicaid in New Mexico, according to HCA's July 2026 pamphlet. Most other groups have no asset test.

• No resource test for adults, parents, pregnant women, children or CHIP.
• No resource test for QMB, SLIMB and QI-1 since January 1, 2021, per the HCA pamphlet. Many states still count savings for these programs.
• SSI: $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple, with a burial fund of up to $1,500 excluded.
• Spousal protection: up to $162,660 of a couple's resources can be protected for the spouse at home when the other spouse enters an institution for at least 30 days on or after January 1, 2026.
• Personal needs allowance: a nursing home resident keeps $100 a month; most of the rest of their income goes to the facility as the "Patient Pay Amount."

Transfers of assets before applying for nursing home care can affect eligibility, so a family planning ahead should talk with a legal aid office or an elder law attorney.

Expansion vs Non-Expansion: New Mexico's Position in 2026

New Mexico expanded Medicaid, so 133% of poverty plus the 5% disregard covers adults 19 to 64 whether or not they have children. The Medicaid.gov eligibility levels table (opens in a new tab) (as of December 1, 2023) lists New Mexico at 133% for expansion adults, 300% for children under 6, 240% for children 6 to 18 and 250% for pregnant women. Next door, Texas didn't expand; our Texas Medicaid income limits guide shows how adults without children are left out there. Our guides for Arizona, Colorado and Utah cover nearby expansion states.

Expansion trigger. Grantsights didn't find a New Mexico statute or HCA notice that automatically ends adult coverage if the federal match drops. A non-government tracker, healthinsurance.org (opens in a new tab), describes New Mexico's rule as a review of the program rather than an automatic end.

What changes under H.R. 1. According to the HCA Medicaid Changes page:

• Work and activity rules start January 1, 2027 for many adults 19 to 64. They'll need 80 hours a month of work, volunteering, half-time school or job training, or monthly income of $580 or more. New applicants may need 80 hours in the month before they apply.
• Renewals every 6 months start for many of the same adults; American Indian and Alaska Native members keep 12-month renewals. In January 2027, HCA mails letters to members with March 2027 renewal dates.
• 30-day response window: if HCA can't confirm your hours or exemption at renewal, you get a notice of noncompliance and 30 calendar days to respond.
• Already in effect since October 1, 2026: only lawful permanent residents, Cuban-Haitian entrants, COFA citizens, lawfully residing children under 21 and lawfully residing pregnant people keep Medicaid among noncitizens. New Mexico created a state-funded program through BeWell for refugees, asylees, trafficking victims, humanitarian parolees and others who were enrolled on September 30, 2026; BeWell's number is (833) 862-3935.
• Exemptions include former foster youth under 26, parents or caregivers of a child 13 or younger, caregivers for a person with a disability, veterans with a 100% disability rating, people who are medically frail, people in drug or alcohol treatment, and people who are pregnant or postpartum.

HCA also lists cost sharing for some adults among the coming changes. None of this alters the dollar limits above.

What HCA Doesn't Tell You About the Income Limits

Grantsights found 5 gaps between how HCA publishes the limits and how they work for a family:

1. Young children reach far higher than adults. Grantsights analysis of the MAD 222 chart shows a child under 6 in a family of four is covered up to $8,250 a month, $4,592 more than the adult limit of $3,658. A parent who's over the adult line should still apply for the kids.
2. Pregnancy has two very different limits. Category 300 uses the fixed standard ($608 for two), while category 301 uses 250% ($4,509 for two). Grantsights analysis of the chart puts the gap at $3,901 a month for a two-person household. Both give full Medicaid with 12 months of postpartum coverage, so the lower number isn't the one that matters for most pregnant women.
3. The parent column is tiny, but the adult column usually applies. A parent of three earning $1,500 a month is over the $765 fixed standard but well under the adult group's $3,028.
4. The charts don't match the calendar year. HCA's poverty-based chart runs April 1 through March 31, while the nursing home limit changes on January 1. HCA's January 2026 pamphlet still showed 2025 Medicare savings figures ($1,305 for one person), and the 2026 figures ($1,330) appeared later.
5. CHIP here has no co-payments. MAD 222 lists "No co-payments" for categories 420 and 421, but those children can't have other health insurance. If a child has employer coverage, they're checked under a Medicaid category instead, where other insurance is allowed.

Common Mistakes and Red Flags

The most frequent errors on New Mexico applications:

• Comparing net pay. HCA uses gross monthly income. Taxes withheld don't reduce it.
• Reading the wrong column. A common mistake is checking a child's eligibility against the adult limit; New Mexico's children's limits run from about 1.7 to more than 2 times the adult line, depending on age.
• Not reporting a pregnancy. The unborn child raises the household size, and pregnancy moves you to a 250% limit.
• Ignoring the September 2026 letters. HCA began mailing letters on September 1, 2026, to adults who'll face work and activity rules. Missing the 30-day response window after a 2027 noncompliance notice can end coverage.
• Paying for help. Applying through YES.NM.GOV (opens in a new tab), by phone or at an ISD office costs nothing. A red flag is anyone charging a fee, asking for gift cards or demanding your bank login to "guarantee" approval. HCA doesn't charge to apply.
• Underestimating the income limit for kids. Many families don't apply because a parent was turned down. That's a mistake when children under 6 are covered to 300% of poverty.

How to Apply for Turquoise Care and How Long It Takes

HCA must process most Medicaid applications within 45 calendar days, and up to 90 days if the Disability Determination Unit needs to decide disability, according to the HCA 100 application rights section (revised November 26, 2025).

1. Online: at YES.NM.GOV (opens in a new tab), where you can also report changes and chat with HCA.
2. By phone: the HCA Customer Service Center at 1-800-283-4465.
3. In person: at your local Income Support Division office.

Have pay stubs, Social Security numbers, and proof of identity and immigration status ready. For nursing home or waiver applications, add bank statements and insurance policies. Newborns of mothers on New Mexico Medicaid are covered automatically under category 031. If you also need food help, our New Mexico food stamps guide explains SNAP, which has its own limits.

What to Do If You're Denied

You have 90 days from the date of the notice to request a fair hearing, per the HCA 100 application rights section. Ask within 13 days and your benefits continue at the same level until HCA decides, though you may have to repay them if you lose. You can return the bottom of the notice, write or call your local HCA office, or call 1-800-283-4465.

Before filing, read the reason on the notice. For an income denial, check the household size HCA used, whether it counted gross or net pay, and whether a child was tested under the right age band. New Mexico legal aid offices can help with hearings for free.

If You're Over the New Mexico Medicaid Limit

Being $100 over the adult line still leaves at least 6 routes, and for families with young children Medicaid or CHIP for the kids is the best bet. Per the MAD 222 chart, children under 6 stay covered up to $6,830 a month in a family of three, more than double the adult limit.

• BeWell: New Mexico's state-based marketplace sells plans with premium tax credits for people over 138% of poverty; see HealthCare.gov's savings page (opens in a new tab) for how the credits work. Losing Medicaid opens a special enrollment period.
• Children's Medicaid and CHIP: up to 300% of poverty for children under 6 and 240% for children 6 to 18.
• Medicare savings programs: QMB, SLIMB and QI-1 pay Medicare premiums up to $1,796 a month for one person, with no asset test.
• Family Planning Medicaid (category 029) covers family planning services up to 250% of poverty.
• WIC: New Mexico WIC adds food benefits for pregnancy and children under 5 at up to 185% of poverty, well above the adult Medicaid line; see our WIC income limits guide.
• Aging parents: a senior who's over the Medicare savings lines may still get cash or services; start with our SSI income limits guide and programs that help seniors.

New Mexico households weighing health coverage against other costs can line up the numbers in our federal poverty guidelines guide, compare food help in our SNAP income limits guide and heating help in our LIHEAP income limits guide. Grantsights' free eligibility checker points to official programs for rent, utilities and other needs. It doesn't decide Medicaid eligibility or apply for you; it shows where the official applications are.

FAQ: New Mexico Medicaid Income Limits

What is the income limit for New Mexico Medicaid in 2026?

$1,769 a month for one adult at 133%, or about $1,836 with the 5% disregard.

How much can a family of 4 make and get Turquoise Care?

About $3,795 a month for adults; $8,250 for children under 6; $6,600 for children 6 to 18.

What is the income limit for pregnant women on New Mexico Medicaid?

$4,509 a month for two and $5,692 for three, at 250% of poverty.

What is the CHIP income limit in New Mexico?

300% of poverty for children under 6 and 240% for children 6 to 18.

What is the nursing home Medicaid income limit in New Mexico?

$2,982 a month and $2,000 in resources for one person in 2026.

Does New Mexico have an asset limit for Medicaid?

Only for SSI, nursing home and waiver groups; MAGI groups and Medicare savings programs have none.

When do New Mexico Medicaid work requirements start?

January 1, 2027, for many category 100 adults aged 19 to 64.

How long do I have to request a fair hearing in New Mexico?

90 days from the notice; 13 days to keep benefits during the hearing.

---

Sources

1. New Mexico HCA: MAD 222, Women, Children, & Family Medicaid Categories FPL chart (opens in a new tab), effective April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027
2. New Mexico HCA: Medical Assistance Programs eligibility pamphlet (opens in a new tab), updated July 2026 - categories, SSI, institutional, waiver and Medicare savings limits
3. New Mexico HCA: Medical Assistance Programs eligibility pamphlet (opens in a new tab), updated January 2026 - earlier Medicare savings figures
4. New Mexico HCA: Medicaid Changes (opens in a new tab) - work and activity rules, six-month renewals and noncitizen changes
5. New Mexico HCA: HCA 100 application, rights and responsibilities (opens in a new tab), revised November 26, 2025 - processing times and fair hearing deadlines
6. New Mexico HCA: Turquoise Care Overview (opens in a new tab)
7. HHS ASPE: 2026 Poverty Guidelines (opens in a new tab)
8. Medicaid.gov eligibility levels by state (opens in a new tab) - New Mexico row, as of December 1, 2023
9. healthinsurance.org: Which states have trigger laws (opens in a new tab) - non-government compilation
10. YES.NM.GOV (opens in a new tab) - online application
11. HealthCare.gov: Lower costs on Marketplace coverage (opens in a new tab)