As New Mexico’s population ages, state agency ramps up guardian support programs

SANTA FE — With New Mexico seniors making up an increasingly large share of the overall population, a state agency is ramping up a program that provides up to $1,400 per month for informal caregivers.

There are currently more than 500 individuals enrolled in the New Mexicare program, which had fewer than 70 people signed up when Emily Kaltenbach took over as secretary of the state Aging and Long-Term Services Department in September 2024.

That number could swell to 1,000 individuals in the coming year under a budget plan released this week by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham that calls for an additional $6.2 million in state funds to expand the program.

Kaltenbach said many caregivers are “strained beyond belief” and have given up their own jobs to take care of elderly family members or other loved ones.

“What we’re trying to accomplish is keeping people out of nursing homes and out of the emergency room,” Kaltenbach said in a recent interview.

New Mexico is one of only a handful of states, such as Hawaii and Washington, that are paying informal caregivers. Only 10 million of the estimated 63 million family caregivers in America were paid last year, according to a recent Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School report, with the work of the other 53 million amounting to $870 billion in unpaid service to society.

More than 20% of New Mexico’s population is 65 years old or older, which is higher than the national average of 18%, according to 2024 U.S. Census Bureau data.

The age category is projected to be New Mexico’s fastest-growing over the next several decades, and roughly one out of every four state residents will be over age 65 by 2035, according to Aging and Long-Term Services Department data.

Given that trend, and facing a decrease in federal food assistance funding, the department is also planning to ramp up its financial support to providers who run a network of about 240 senior centers around New Mexico, including on tribal land.

The governor’s spending plan includes a proposed increase of $1.6 million in the coming year to help designated government entities, called area agencies on aging, or AAAs, pay for costs associated with providing transportation and meals for elderly state residents.

Kaltenbach said New Mexico cities and counties should also be helping to fund senior centers and suggested some such facilities could close if more funding isn’t provided.

“I’m really worried our providers might shutter their services if we can’t keep the lights on,” she said.

In all, Lujan Grisham’s budget recommendation calls for a $9.2 million increase in state funding for the Aging and Long-Term Services Department in the coming year — a 12.3% increase over the agency's current $75 million base budget.

While securing that proposed funding amount could be complicated by a state revenue slowdown, Kaltenbach said there’s a sense of urgency to ensure the state’s system for supporting elderly residents is on solid footing before the governor leaves office at the end of 2026.

Already, the agency has reactivated a Long-Term Care Division that had been dormant since 2012 and now oversees the New Mexicare program, in addition to other programs.

“I think we’ve proven we can support those informal caregivers who are the backbone of the long-term care program,” she said.

Meanwhile, the department is also in the midst of expanding a pilot program for grandparents raising their grandchildren in New Mexico.

That program, called the kinship caregiver support pilot program, was approved by lawmakers during this year’s 60-day legislative session. It was initially launched with funding for 50 families in two New Mexico counties — Rio Arriba and San Juan — but will be expanded to several more counties in the coming months, Kaltenbach said.

Grandparents raising their grandchildren who qualify for the pilot program receive a $400 monthly stipend, and 177 applications were received by the agency in advance of the program’s November launch.

“There is more need than we currently can provide,” said Kaltenbach.

Statewide, the number of children in kinship care increased from 30,000 to 36,000 during a recent six-year period, according to a Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation report. That report also found that more than 30% of grandparents raising at least one grandchild in New Mexico were living at or below the federal poverty level — a rate nearly twice as high as the national average.

Dan Boyd covers state government and politics for the Journal in Santa Fe. Follow him on Twitter at @DanBoydNM or reach him via email at dboyd@abqjournal.com.