The New Mexico Health Care Authority will soon impose additional requirements on federal food assistance recipients, part of an effort to bring down the state’s high rate of errors and thereby avoid huge financial penalties established in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
Beginning May 1, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients will be required to provide documentation regarding costs for housing, utilities and dependents to receive SNAP benefits. Those costs factor into how much in monthly food benefits recipients receive.
In addition to ensuring that recipients receive the correct benefit amount, according to a Thursday announcement from the HCA, implementing more documentation requirements will bring down the state’s high rate of SNAP administration errors.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” President Donald Trump signed last year threatens stiff penalties for states with high rates of SNAP over- or underpayment to recipients. New Mexico’s error rate is 14.6%, according to recent estimates from the federal Agriculture Department, which is among the nation’s highest.
If the state does not bring down its error rate significantly, it could be required to pay for a portion of the total SNAP benefits it receives from the federal government, which otherwise fully funds SNAP benefits. Failure to bring the rate below 6% could mean New Mexico is required to come up with $153 million.
New Mexico has the nation’s highest SNAP participation rate. More than one in five New Mexicans receive federal food assistance.
Tim Fowler, an HCA spokesperson, told Source NM in an email Friday that the HCA does not have an estimate of how much the new documentation requirements will bring down the error rate.
“However, this is key to ensuring accurate case determination, which will improve our overall accuracy rates,” he said. “Our team will regularly assess how this new process improves compliance levels.”
State officials have previously attributed the state’s high rate of miscalculations to staffing and technological issues. The state also waived multiple documentation requirements at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which officials said resulted in more errors.
New documentation requirements include rental or mortgage statements, utility bills or letters from childcare providers showing monthly costs. The authority will also accept sworn statements in certain circumstances, and the HCA officials said caseworkers can assist households in obtaining the required records.
“When families provide complete information about their expenses, we can make sure their benefit amount is calculated correctly,” said Acting HCA Deputy Secretary Niki Kozlowski in a statement. “Without verification, those expenses may not be counted, which could result in lower SNAP benefits than a family actually qualifies for.”
Authority officials noted that the new requirement won’t immediately disrupt benefits for current SNAP recipients. Beginning next month, SNAP recipients will be asked to provide the records the next time they renew their benefits, according to the HCA.
“Our priority is to provide benefits to eligible New Mexicans,” Fowler said, “as we continue evaluating the fiscal and operational effects of this change.”
