New Mexico is in a healthcare crisis, but not everyone is impacted equally. The state’s obesity rate has climbed to 36.3% of adults, the fastest rise of any state in the nation over the past decade, and without real intervention, one recent analysis projects the rate could climb to between 60% and 62% of adults by 2050.
The costs are real, too. Obesity already costs New Mexico’s economy an estimated $2.6 billion a year in medical spending, missed work and disability. It drives diabetes, heart disease and other chronic conditions that fill New Mexico’s hospitals and Medicaid rolls.
That burden falls hardest on Hispanic New Mexicans, who face a 39.9% obesity rate — above the state average — and women, who make up the majority of adult Medicaid enrollees nationwide.
I see this crisis up close every day. As a long-time educator and administrator in New Mexico higher education and a member of MANA, an organization that has spent more than five decades building leadership and economic opportunity for Latinas nationwide — including here in Albuquerque, where I once served as chapter president — I watch untreated chronic disease quietly erode the progress New Mexicans have worked hardest for. It rarely happens in one dramatic moment.
Whether it’s a missed class because a health crisis could not wait or a missed shift because a chronic condition went untreated, it is a shame to see so many of New Mexico’s residents contending with chronic disease symptoms derived from obesity, which medicine now knows how to treat.
GLP-1 medications are one of the most significant medical advances of the 21st century for treating these needs. They treat obesity and the diabetes, heart disease, and other conditions it drives by addressing the underlying biology of such symptoms. And this year, the federal government acknowledged as much.
Under the new Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, Medicare beneficiaries with a qualifying BMI can now access these medications for a $50 monthly copay once their doctor submits a prior authorization.
That’s a game-changer, and one that I hope our elected leaders will recognize. Turquoise Care, the state’s Medicaid program, does not currently cover GLP-1 medicines, leaving thousands without affordable access to the care they need and deserve. That means the parents, grandparents and caregivers of the students I work with every day, along with hundreds of thousands of other New Mexicans on Medicaid, have no path to a treatment that Medicare beneficiaries can now get for the price of a few groceries.
Fortunately, this is a solvable problem. In the upcoming legislative session, beginning in January, our lawmakers should address this crisis and offer up a budget appropriation that empowers Turquoise Care to cover GLP-1 medications.
While I understand the need for caution as New Mexico is watching every dollar amid a difficult budget outlook, it will cost our state more in the long run to not take action soon. Turquoise Care already pays for the diabetes, heart disease, dialysis and amputations that untreated obesity leads to, but only after they have become far more expensive and far harder to reverse. Covering GLP-1s now reduces the future, more expensive outlays the program already accounts for.
Every dollar New Mexico spends helping a patient manage a chronic illness today is a dollar more tomorrow. Equity in health care is equity in opportunity, and New Mexico’s most underserved communities deserve both. It is time for our state’s leaders to match the leadership the federal government just showed with its Bridge program, and fund Medicaid coverage of GLP-1s in the state’s next budget.
Lorena Blanco‑Silva serves on the MANA National Board of Directors and is the vice chair.
