New Mexico Register / Volume XXXVI, Issue
10 / May 20, 2025
This is an emergency amendment to 8.249.600 NMAC,
Sections 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, and 15, effective 5/1/2025.
8.249.600.8 [RESERVED] We ensure that New Mexicans attain their
highest level of health by providing whole-person, cost-effective, accessible,
and high-quality health care and safety-net services.
[8.249.600.8 NMAC - Rp, 8.249.600.8 NMAC, 1/1/2019; A/E, 5/1/2025]
8.249.600.9 BENEFIT
DESCRIPTION: Refugee medical assistance (RMA) offers health coverage for
refugees [within the first twelve months] for a period established
yearly by the office of refugee resettlement (ORR) based on available
appropriated funds for the fiscal year from their date of entry to the
United States, when they do not qualify for medicaid. RMA eligible refugees have access to a
benefit package that parallels the full coverage medicaid
benefit package. This program is not
funded by medicaid.
RMA is funded through a grant under Title IV of the Immigration and
Nationality Act. The purpose of this
grant is to provide for the effective resettlement of refugees and to assist
them to achieve economic self-sufficiency as quickly as possible. Refer to 8.100.100 NMAC.
[8.249.600.9 NMAC - Rp, 8.249.600.9 NMAC, 1/1/2019; A, 1/1/2023; A/E, 5/1/2025]
8.249.600.11 INITIAL BENEFITS:
A. Approval
or denial of application:
After the eligibility determination is made, the income support [specialist
(ISS)] division caseworker sends notice to the applicant or applicant
group. The denial notice contains
information on the reason for the denial and explanation of appeal rights to
the applicant(s).
B. Date
of eligibility: Eligibility
starts with the first day of the month of application after all eligibility
requirements are met. The [twelve-month]
eligibility period begins with the month the refugee enters the United
States, as documented by the immigration and naturalization service (INS) (form
I-94). [For cases involving children
born in the United States, the child’s eligibility period expires when the
refugee parent who arrived last in the United States has been in this country
for twelve months.]
[8.249.600.11
NMAC - Rp, 8.249.600.11 NMAC, 1/1/2019; A, 1/1/2023; A/E, 5/1/2025]
8.249.600.12 ONGOING
BENEFITS: No periodic review is
required, since coverage is limited to [a maximum of twelve months]
an eligibility period from the date of entry into the United States.
[8.249.600.12
NMAC - Rp, 8.249.600.12 NMAC, 1/1/2019; A, 1/1/2023; A/E, 5/1/2025]
8.249.600.14 CASE
CLOSURES: Cases are closed when
refugee medical assistance recipients no longer meet eligibility standards or
after the [twelve-month] eligibility period expires, whichever comes
first.
[8.249.600.14
NMAC - Rp, 8.249.600.14 NMAC, 1/1/2019; A, 1/1/2023; A/E, 5/1/2025]
8.249.600.15 CHANGES AND REDETERMINATIONS OF ELIGIBILITY:
A. A re-determination of eligibility is not required.
B. Changes in income are not reportable. Reported income changes are not acted upon.
[C. A refugee who received medicaid
for eleven or fewer months during the RMA period is eligible for RMA for any
remaining months in the twelve-month RMA period. Eligibility for RMA is determined without a
new eligibility determination or application.
D.] C. Residence changes must be reported within
10 days after the change for individuals placed in a public institution or
those individuals moving out of New Mexico.
Refer to 8.200.450 NMAC.
[8.249.600.15 NMAC – Rp, 8.249.600.15 NMAC, 1/1/2019; A, 1/1/2023; A/E, 5/1/2025]