U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury stood at the University of New Mexico's Comprehensive Cancer Center on Thursday, October 22, 2026, to tout roughly $11 million in congressional earmarks headed for healthcare programs across the city, money she says is meant to work hand-in-hand with the state's long-term push toward universal coverage. The funding touches cancer research, mobile crisis centers, and a sobering center, and Stansbury framed it as part of a broader fight she's waging in Washington.
Stansbury, who represents New Mexico in the U.S. House, visited Albuquerque on Thursday specifically to promote the earmarks, according to Source New Mexico. She said the federal dollars are coupled with the work New Mexico is doing at the state level “to hopefully one day be able to deliver universal healthcare to all New Mexicans,” a goal she says puts the state ahead of the curve nationally. “New Mexico is truly on the front lines in delivering healthcare,” she said, adding that she considers access to care a human right.
The congresswoman has skin in this fight beyond New Mexico's borders too — she told reporters she has co-sponsored a Medicare for All bill in the U.S. House, signaling she sees the state's ambitions as part of a larger national conversation about how Americans get covered.
A Roundhouse Proposal Takes Shape for 2027
Back home, state lawmakers are already laying the groundwork for a broader push to move New Mexico toward universal healthcare, which is expected to take shape during the Legislature's upcoming session, according to Rep. Liz Thomson. Democratic lawmakers see the push as a natural extension of recent reforms and universal programs the state has already rolled out, according to the same report from Source New Mexico.
Rep. Liz Thomson, an Albuquerque Democrat who chairs the Legislature's interim Health and Human Services Committee, said lawmakers will begin laying the groundwork when the 60-day session opens on January 19, with an ambitious target of having a fully funded universal healthcare program running by 2029. Thomson plans to carry bills that would serve as early building blocks — covering healthcare for all New Mexico children, as well as expanding access to primary care and behavioral healthcare statewide. “The process will take a long time,” Thomson said, but she added that lawmakers are ready to put in the work.
Haaland's Public Option Enters the Conversation
The statehouse push is unfolding alongside the governor's race, where Democratic nominee Deb Haaland has said she would prioritize developing a public healthcare option if elected. A public option would give all New Mexicans access to a government-funded healthcare plan that competes directly with private insurers. Haaland's campaign platform, posted on her campaign website, also calls for protecting Medicaid coverage, providing Medicaid for all children, expanding medical residency slots at the UNM School of Medicine for rural, Tribal and underserved communities, and increasing mobile health clinics.
House Speaker Javier Martínez, an Albuquerque Democrat, has thrown his weight behind the idea, calling a public option “the least expensive, most efficient and best way to deliver healthcare.” He likened Haaland's proposal to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's use of the state's permanent funds to pay for free university tuition and universal child care — both programs that reshaped how New Mexicans think about what state government can underwrite.
Rising Premiums Add Urgency to the Debate
The push toward universal coverage comes as New Mexicans brace for a sharp jump in insurance costs. The state's Office of Superintendent of Insurance has approved 2027 rates for individual-market Affordable Care Act plans with an average increase of 24.4%, according to the New Mexico Office of Superintendent of Insurance. That's notably steeper than the nationwide median increase of 15%, the same office noted. The new rates take effect January 1, 2027, though the office says the state's Health Care Affordability Fund is expected to keep providing premium and cost-sharing relief to eligible BeWell enrollees.
State lawmakers have already taken steps aimed at softening the blow. Proposals that advanced through both chambers of the Legislature would let the state keep subsidizing some ACA marketplace coverage, invest in medical education, and improve recruitment and retention of healthcare providers, according to Searchlight New Mexico. Among them, House Bill 4 increases distributions from the state's Health Care Affordability Fund specifically to help lower premiums for people buying individual marketplace plans. That fund draws from a 3.75% surtax on health insurance premiums statewide, which is expected to generate $220 million a year, the outlet reported.
Separately, House Bill 306 would eliminate facility fees — the extra charges tacked onto clinician bills to cover clinic overhead — for preventive outpatient care, vaccinations and telehealth services starting in 2027, with some exceptions carved out for rural, inpatient and emergency care, per Searchlight New Mexico's reporting.
For her part, Stansbury said she intends to keep pushing on the federal side regardless of how the state-level debate unfolds. “We will continue working for universal access to care,” she said. Stansbury said New Mexico was leading the way and added, “I’m confident we’ll get there.”
