DEMING – Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday to address growing concerns over rural healthcare in New Mexico. The governor responded to the announcement of a new $50 billion rural hospital fund by Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, which is set to open for applications in early September.

The fund was introduced following the passage of President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which reallocated federal spending toward border security and defense, while cutting Medicaid funding. Some Republican senators advocated for the rural hospital fund to mitigate the impact of these cuts.

Governor Lujan Grisham criticized the plan, saying it creates more bureaucracy than solutions. When asked by host Margaret Brennan if she had figured out how to implement the new requirements, the governor replied:

“Absolutely not. There is no real way to implement this. It’s more paperwork for everyone… Americans really hate, Margaret, when you go to your primary care physician and you spend 20 minutes sitting at a chair, not even on the exam table, while they are inputting data into a computer. So this doesn’t make any sense.”

New Mexico’s Medicaid director told KRQE News 13 that nearly 34% of the state’s residents are enrolled in Medicaid. The new law could force six to eight rural hospitals to close within its first year.

Dr. Oz confirmed that applications for the rural hospital fund will begin in early September, but implementation challenges and concerns about its effectiveness remain.