A new statewide poll commissioned by The Albuquerque Journal shows more than half of the state's voters back expanding the state's Medicaid rolls to cover 170,000 low-income residents.
The Journal pollfound that 53 percent of likely voters surveyed back boosting eligibility to allow low-income children, seniors, pregnant women and the disabled sign up for the federal-state health insurance program.
Republican Governor Susana Martinez's administration hasn't said if it will participate in the part of the new federal health care law that allows expanded Medicaid coverage. The state has one of the nation's highest uninsured rates for health care.
The program already covers about 550,000 New Mexicans, about one in every four state residents.
The expansion would be largely financed with federal money.
