New Mexico is one of six states that has already begun using artificial intelligence to comply with a major Medicaid overhaul contained in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that President Donald Trump signed last year.

That’s according to a study from the Kaiser Family Foundation that surveyed state officials across the county about how they intend to meet requirements contained in the bill ahead of the January 1, 2027, deadline.

Only New Mexico and five other states — Missouri, Maryland, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma — have started using AI to implement new federal requirements, though 21 states are still deciding whether to use the technology, according to the survey.

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Under the new bill, most adult recipients of Medicaid, the nation’s low-income health insurance program, will now have to demonstrate to state officials that they have worked, volunteered or attended school at least 80 hours a month to continue receiving health insurance. 

Collecting and verifying that information to keep people insured is “super complicated,” said Paula Morgan, chief information officer of the Health Care Authority, which administers Medicaid. She told Source New Mexico that using artificial intelligence is necessary to help process an expected deluge of pay stubs and other materials, while also ensuring the state is complying with new federal regulations.

“Our main goal is to make sure that eligible people keep the benefits that they’re eligible for, that the families in New Mexico keep the health coverage that they need,” Morgan said. “And as we lean on automation, the first thing we want to do is help alleviate any of the disruption to those benefits, the procedural burdens that folks may be feeling.”

State officials told Kaiser Family Foundation that the Health Care Authority would use artificial intelligence for document processing, merging datasets and “back-end” automation, as well as to help identify cases where recipients are exempt from the new work requirements. 

Morgan told Source New Mexico that the authority will use AI tools to help verify pay stubs and other documents recipients submit as proof of eligibility, like volunteer-hours timesheets or college class schedules. The technology will also help link an existing Medicaid eligibility system with a newly launched Medicaid claims system called Turquoise Claims. 

“That’s why we’re using multiple levels of AI and automation, in general, to be able to look at the multiple ways that folks are able to verify and be compliant,” she said.

But Morgan stressed that the authority is not allowing artificial intelligence to determine eligibility. That decision rests with humans. 

“AI is not making decisions,” she said. “The AI that we are developing is assisting our caseworkers as they work with New Mexicans to make sure that New Mexicans get the benefits that they’re eligible for. So caseworkers are making decisions. People are making decisions.”