Summary
New Mexico's Puente Health program backfills state premium assistance for lawfully-present non-citizens who lose the federal PTC under P.L. 119-21. It is not modeled, and PolicyEngine's own gates zero out the population Puente covers — so the model currently shows these New Mexicans losing all assistance while 8.401.2.11 NMAC actually backfills them through the NMPA machinery.
Details
- Puente began 2026-01-01 (<100% FPL) and expands to ≤400% FPL for PY2027 (PY2027 MAP Policy & Procedures Manual, HCA 2026-06-16, pp. 2, 7–8).
- It pays through the NMPA machinery on Table 1; PY2027 MAP eligibility item 2 (p. 4) admits Puente enrollees to NMPA by name.
- PolicyEngine already encodes the federal-side losses (
below_fpl_immigration_exception_in_effect false in 2026; ineligible_immigration_statuses 2027 restriction), so the model shows this population losing everything.
Bias: understates NM state benefits for lawfully-present non-citizens — a small slice in 2026, but the whole ≤400% FPL lawfully-present-non-citizen marketplace population in 2027.
Scope
Surfaced in the review of the NM Premium Assistance PR (#9232); documented there as Not-Modeled. This issue tracks implementing the Puente backfill (8.401.2.11 NMAC). Note the §73101 (manual) vs §71301 (repo parameter) citation discrepancy to reconcile when implementing.
Filed per review item A6 (reviewer @hua7450).
Summary
New Mexico's Puente Health program backfills state premium assistance for lawfully-present non-citizens who lose the federal PTC under P.L. 119-21. It is not modeled, and PolicyEngine's own gates zero out the population Puente covers — so the model currently shows these New Mexicans losing all assistance while 8.401.2.11 NMAC actually backfills them through the NMPA machinery.
Details
below_fpl_immigration_exception_in_effectfalse in 2026;ineligible_immigration_statuses2027 restriction), so the model shows this population losing everything.Bias: understates NM state benefits for lawfully-present non-citizens — a small slice in 2026, but the whole ≤400% FPL lawfully-present-non-citizen marketplace population in 2027.
Scope
Surfaced in the review of the NM Premium Assistance PR (#9232); documented there as Not-Modeled. This issue tracks implementing the Puente backfill (8.401.2.11 NMAC). Note the §73101 (manual) vs §71301 (repo parameter) citation discrepancy to reconcile when implementing.
Filed per review item A6 (reviewer @hua7450).