New Mexico health insurance Marketplace guide

To be eligible to enroll in private health coverage through beWellnm, you must:⁷

• Be lawfully present in the United States, and live in New Mexico
• Not be incarcerated
• Not be enrolled in Medicare⁸

So most New Mexico residents can enroll in a health plan through the exchange.⁹ But a more pressing question for most people is eligibility for financial assistance in the form of state and federal subsidies through beWellnm. 

To qualify for income-based federal Advance Premium Tax Credits (APTC), New Mexico Premium Assistance, federal cost-sharing reductions (CSR), or New Mexico’s State Out-of-Pocket Assistance (SOPA), you must:

• Not have access to an affordable plan offered by an employer. If you are eligible to sign up for an employer’s plan and aren’t sure whether it’s considered affordable, you can use our Employer Health Plan Affordability Calculator to see if you might qualify for premium subsidies via beWellnm. 
• Not be eligible for New Mexico Centennial Care (Medicaid).
• Not be eligible for premium-free Medicare Part A.¹⁰
• Not be able to be claimed by someone else as a tax dependent.¹¹
• If you’re married, you must file a joint tax return with your spouse.¹² (with very limited exceptions)¹³

In addition to those basic parameters, beWellnm subsidy eligibility will depend on your household’s income.

In New Mexico, the open enrollment period begins November 1 and continues through January 15.¹⁴ 

(Note that for off-exchange plans — obtained outside of beWellnm — the enrollment period ends December 15 in New Mexico, and does not continue into January the way it does for on-exchange plans.¹⁵ This is fairly unique, as the open enrollment period in most states is the same for on-exchange and off-exchange plans.)

Open enrollment will be shorter starting in the fall of 2026, due to a federal rule that was finalized in 2025. State-run exchanges will be required to end open enrollment no later than December 31, and all plans selected during open enrollment will take effect January 1.

After the open enrollment period ends, you may still be able to enroll or make a plan change if you experience a qualifying life event, such as giving birth or losing other health coverage. 

New Mexico also offers an Easy Enrollment Program that enables uninsured residents to initiate the health insurance enrollment process through their state tax returns.¹⁶

Enrollment in New Mexico Centennial Care (Medicaid) is available year-round.

To enroll in an ACA Marketplace/exchange plan in New Mexico, you can: 

• Visit beWellnm –  New Mexico’s health insurance exchange – to compare the health plans available in your area, determine whether you’re eligible for financial assistance (including federal and state subsidies), and enroll in coverage during open enrollment or during a special enrollment period. 
• Enroll in a beWellnm plan with the help of an insurance agent or broker, Navigator, or certified application counselor.
  
• Contact beWellnm by phone at 1-833-862-3935.

When you enroll in coverage through beWellnm, you may find that you’re eligible for financial assistance. And the assistance may be more robust than it is in many other states, as both federal and state subsidy programs are available in New Mexico. The state subsidies are once again being expanded for 2026, for the third year in a row (details below).

As a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), federal premium subsidies (advance premium tax credits, or APTC) are available depending on your income. If you’re eligible for APTC, it will reduce the amount you pay for your health coverage each month, as long as you enroll in a metal-level plan through beWellnm.

During the open enrollment period for 2025 coverage, 85% of the people who enrolled through beWellnm qualified for APTC. These federal subsidies averaged $592/month, reducing the average APTC-eligible enrollee’s premium to $86/month.¹⁷

Applicants with household income up to 250% of the federal poverty level are also eligible for federal cost-sharing reductions (CSR), which will reduce the deductible and other out-of-pocket expenses for Silver-level plans. Thirty-two percent of beWellnm enrollees were receiving CSR benefits as of 2025.¹⁸

In addition to the federal subsidies, New Mexico is among the states where extra state-funded subsidies are available. And these subsidies have expanded each year since they debuted, making coverage more affordable for more people.

As of 2023, New Mexico began offering state-funded premium subsidies (for applicants with income up to 400% of the federal poverty level, or FPL) and cost-sharing assistance (for applicants with income up to 300% of FPL), in addition to the federal premium subsidies and cost-sharing reductions.¹⁹

New Mexico’s cost-sharing reductions (state out-of-pocket assistance, or SOPA) were expanded for 2024, ensuring that people with household income up to 300% of FPL could get plans with 90% actuarial value (ie, platinum-level coverage).²⁰ And that was expanded again for 2025, so that applicants with household income up to 400% of FPL could get plans with 90% actuarial value.²¹

For 2026, New Mexico is again expanding the state-subsidy program, to address the fact that federal premium subsidies are expected to shrink significantly in 2026. The federal subsidy enhancements that have been in effect since 2021 are scheduled to expire at the end of 2025 unless Congress acts to extend them. If they expire, federal subsidies will be smaller in 2026. However, New Mexico has announced that for enrollees with household income up to 400% of the federal poverty level, state subsidy funding will be used to bring the subsidies back up to the level they would have been if the federal enhancements had continued.²²

Plans with reduced cost-sharing, including federal CSR and SOPA benefits, are known as “Turquoise plans” in New Mexico, to make it easier for consumers to identify them. The 90% actuarial value plans are called “Turquoise 3.”

Starting in 2023, New Mexico no longer allows health insurers in the individual/family market to add a tobacco surcharge to smokers’ premiums (the state joined several others that had already imposed similar rules).

Starting with the 2024 plan year, New Mexico has standardized plans available at the Silver, Gold, and Turquoise level.²³

Source: CMS.gov¹⁷

Depending on your income and circumstances, you may be able to enroll in free or low-cost health coverage through Centennial Care (New Mexico Medicaid). Learn more about whether you might be eligible for Medicaid in New Mexico.

As was the case in all states, Medicaid disenrollments resumed in New Mexico in mid-2023, after being paused for three years during the pandemic. But New Mexico took some fairly unique steps to help people transition from Medicaid to the Marketplace: For those with income up to 400% of the poverty level, the state covered their first month of after-subsidy premiums for the Marketplace plan, and beWellnm also offered retroactive effective dates (the first of the month during which the person applied) for the new Marketplace plans when a person transitioned away from Centennial Care Medicaid.²⁴

For 2026, four insurers will offer exchange plans in New Mexico,²⁵ The same four insurers offered coverage for 2025. 

• Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico
• Molina
• Presbyterian Health Plan
• UnitedHealthcare of New Mexico

For several years, New Mexico had one of the few remaining ACA-created CO-OPs, but it closed at the end of 2020, leaving just three CO-OPs still operational (as of 2026, those three CO-OPs offer coverage in four states).

For 2026, the following average rate changes have been approved by the New Mexico Office of the Superintendent of Insurance (OSI), amounting to an overall average increase of 35.7% for full-price (pre-subsidy) premiums:²²  

Source: New Mexico Office of the Superintendent of Insurance²² and New Mexico SERFF²⁶

The weighted average rate increase for 2026 is 35.7% in the individual market in New Mexico, but it’s important to understand that the state subsidy program is being expanded to keep coverage quite affordable for most residents.²²

For perspective, here’s an overview of how average full-price premiums have changed over the years in New Mexico’s individual/family market:

• 2015: Average decrease of 1.7%.²⁷
• 2016: Average increase of 4%.²⁸
• 2017: Average increase of 28.4%.²⁹
• 2018: Average increase of 30%.³⁰
• 2019: Average decrease of 1%.³¹
• 2020: Average increase of 0.9%.³²
• 2021: Average decrease of 1.5%.³³
• 2022: Average increase of 15.5%.³⁴
• 2023: Average increase of 11.3%.³⁵ (before Friday Health Plans, which had the largest increase, announced that they would exit the market).
• 2024: Average increase of 7%.³⁶
• 2025: Average increase of 10.2%.³⁷

During the open enrollment period for 2025 coverage, 70,373 people selected private plans through beWellnm,³⁸ setting a new record high.

Source: 2014,³⁹ 2015,⁴⁰ 2016,⁴¹ 2017,⁴² 2018,⁴³ 2019,⁴⁴ 2020,⁴⁵ 2021,⁴⁶ 2022,⁴⁷ 2023,⁴⁸ 2024,⁴⁹ 2025³⁸

beWellnmThe state’s exchange for small businesses, individuals, and families.

Health Action New MexicoA consumer advocacy organization working to improve healthcare access and affordability in New Mexico.

New Mexico Human Services Department
Administers Centennial Care (Medicaid) and various other social services programs in the state.

New Mexico Office of the Superintendent of Insurance
Licenses and regulates health insurance companies in New Mexico, as well as brokers and agents; can provide assistance and information to consumers who have questions or complaints about regulated entities.

New Mexico State Health Insurance Assistance Program
A resource for New Mexico Medicare beneficiaries and their caregivers.