After Republican cuts to subsides, Obamacare enrollment dropped in every state except one: New Mexico

For once, New Mexico is on the top of a very good list. 49 states saw drops in the number of people covered by the Affordable Care Act last year after a Republican-led effort in Congress cut subsidies to states, but not New Mexico.

An analysis of federal health care enrollment data analzyed by the Associated Press earlier this month found that 2.6 million fewer Americans were enrolled in subsidized “Obamacare” plans in February 2026 compared with 2025 before federal law changes that ended federal subsidies. Only New Mexico saw an increase in enrollments by adding 10,312 new customers — a 14.5% increase — to health insurance plans offered through the state’s BeWellNM health insurance exchange. The state had 80,047 people subscribed to plans as of February. “States across the country saw steep drops in the number of people covered by the Affordable Care Act over the past year, with Ohio and Oklahoma each losing nearly one-third of enrollees, according to new federal data that provides the first complete 50-state breakdown of sharp enrollment declines following the January expiration of enhanced subsidies,” the AP reported. The data includes Americans who signed up for or were automatically reenrolled in plans in 2026 and those who paid their first monthly premiums to keep coverage, according to Cynthia Cox, a vice president and director of the ACA program at the healthcare research nonprofit KFF, who reviewed the dataset for the AP.

The New Mexico Political Report reported last year that some New Mexico health plans had filed notice to increase premiums as much as 52% to cover rising health care costs in the industry at-large, further jeopardizing access to affordable insurance plans. But Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham called legislators into a special session in October 2025 to approve $17.3 million in new state subsidies to offset federal cuts into 2026, preventing those cuts and hikes from impacting most eligible households. The legislature later added more than $250 million to those funds to extend state subsidies year-round. “Without state assistance, 27,100 New Mexicans could lose marketplace coverage because of Republicans’ refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits,” the governor’s office said in a statement at the time.

“Look at this map,” Lujan Grisham posted on LinkedIn following the publication of the AP report this month. “Every state but one saw Affordable Care Act enrollment drop when federal funding was cut. New Mexico stepped in to fill the gap – enrollments increased 14%. Healthcare shouldn’t depend on who is in the White House.”