Amidst New Mexico’s Surging Obesity Epidemic, National Health Equity Leaders Call On State Lawmakers to Expand Medicaid Coverage to Include Critical Obesity Treatments
November 10, 2025
SANTA FE, N.M. — Today, a coalition of national health equity leaders called on New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham — as well as an array of state legislators — to expand Medicaid coverage to include FDA-approved anti-obesity medications (AOMs) in the upcoming 30-day legislative session in January of 2026. In a series of letters calling for urgent action, leaders from the National Hispanic Health Foundation, National Hispanic Council on Aging, League of United Latin American Citizens, MANA, and the American Diabetes Association asserted that expanding Medicaid coverage to include AOMs would not only help address surging obesity rates across New Mexico, but would would have a positive impact on communities disproportionately impacted by obesity — including Hispanics, African Americans, Native Americans, and women.
“New Mexico now stands at a crossroads,” the advocates assert. “Over the past decade, the state has seen the steepest rise in obesity rates in the nation — a ten-point surge that has pushed adult obesity to 36.3%. The most rapid increase is among adults aged 25 to 34, where nearly 43% are now affected. This growing crisis falls hardest on those already confronting health inequities: Hispanics, African Americans, and Native Americans, as well as women, particularly those in low-income households.”
“New Mexicans on Medicaid deserve access to breakthrough obesity therapies that will not only save lives, reduce costs, and help dismantle long-standing inequities in care, but also improve outcomes across the state,” the leaders assert.
The letters were sent to Gov. Lujan Grisham and members of her administration — including NM Health Care Authority Cabinet Secretary Kari Armijo — as well as to lawmakers including House Speaker Javier Martínez, Sen. Michael Padilla, Sen. Martin Hickey, and Rep. Reena Szczepanski.
Obesity’s Toll on New Mexico and Minority Populations
According to a June 2023 report from the Health Equity Coalition for Chronic Disease, nearly half of Hispanic adults nationwide — 45.6% — live with obesity, the second-highest rate among racial and ethnic minority groups. This disparity is even more striking among women: nearly 8-in-10 Hispanic women are affected by overweight or obesity, compared to 6-out-of-10 non-Hispanic women.
Without decisive action, New Mexico’s growing obesity crisis will only widen existing disparities and overburden the systems meant to protect its most vulnerable residents. According to the CHOICES Project, nearly 55% of Hispanic adults in New Mexico will be living with obesity by 2030. Left unaddressed, this trend is a ticking time bomb for the state’s healthcare infrastructure and economy — already costing the state well over $2 billion annually in combined healthcare expenses, lost productivity, and reduced tax revenues.
The letters can be accessed with the following links:
