2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 27 - Public Assistance › Article 5 - Indigent Hospital and County Health Care › Section 27-5-7 - Health care assistance fund.

A. There is created in the county treasury of each county a "health care assistance fund".
B. Collections under the levy made pursuant to the Indigent Hospital and County Health Care Act and all payments shall be placed into the fund, and the amount placed in the fund shall be budgeted and expended only for the purposes specified in the Indigent Hospital and County Health Care Act, by warrant upon vouchers approved by the county. Payments for indigent hospitalizations shall not be made from any other county fund.
C. The fund shall be audited in the manner that other state and county funds are audited, and all records of payments and verified statements of qualification upon which payments were made from the fund shall be open to the public.
D. Any balance remaining in the fund at the end of the fiscal year shall carry over into the ensuing year, and that balance shall be taken into consideration in the determination of the ensuing year's budget and certification of need for purposes of making a tax levy.
E. Money may be transferred to the fund from other sources, but no transfers may be made from the fund for any purpose other than those specified in the Indigent Hospital and County Health Care Act.
History:
1953 Comp., § 13-2-18, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 234, § 7; 1991, ch. 212, § 21; 1992, ch. 31, § 1; 1993, ch. 321, § 7; 1996, ch. 29, § 4; 1998, ch. 71, § 1; 1999, ch. 188, § 1; 2014, ch. 79, § 9.
ANNOTATIONS
The 2014 amendment,
effective March 12, 2014, changed the name of the fund from the county indigent hospital claims fund to the health care assistance fund; in the catchline, deleted "County indigent hospital claim" and added "Health care assistance"; in Subsection A, after the "each county a", deleted "county indigent hospital claims" and added "health care assistance"; in Subsection B, in the first sentence, after "vouchers approved by", deleted "a majority of the board and signed by the chairman of the board" and added "the county".
Temporary provisions.
— Laws 2014, ch. 79, § 19, provided that on March 12, 2014, all money in the sole community provider fund shall be transferred to the safety net care pool fund and all money in a county's indigent hospital claims fund shall be transferred to the county's health care assistance fund.
The 1999 amendment,
effective June 18, 1999, deleted "pursuant to Subsection F of this section" following "fiscal year" in Subsection D and deleted former Subsection F, relating to the transfer of excessive medicaid funds.
The 1998 amendment,
effective May 20, 1998, in Subsection F, substituted "2000" for "1998" in the first sentence and deleted the former second sentence which read: "Beginning in 1998, the transfer shall be made by September 1 of each fiscal year".
The 1996 amendment,
effective May 15, 1996, substituted "Subsection F" for "Subsections F and G", in Subsection D and substituted "1998" for "1996" twice in Subsection F.
The 1993 amendment,
effective July 1, 1993, substituted "and County Health Care" for "Claims" in two places in the first sentence of Subsection B and in Subsection E; substituted "Payments" for "Contributions" in the first sentence of Subsection B; inserted "pursuant to Subsections F and G of this section" in Subsection D and deleted the former second and third sentences of that subsection, which related to transfers and payments from the fund in the eightieth and eighty-first fiscal years; and added Subsection F.
The 1992 amendment,
effective May 20, 1992, deleted "county indigent hospital claims" preceding "fund" at the second instance of that term in Subsection B and at the first instance of that term in Subsections C, D, and E; and in Subsection D, made a section reference substitution and inserted "except voluntary contributions made during the eightieth and eighty-first fiscal years" and added the last sentence.
The 1991 amendment,
effective July 1, 1991, added the second sentence in Subsection D and made minor stylistic changes throughout the section.
Mill levy funds used for indigent medical care.
— Colfax County could not use mill levy funds to provide indigent medical care for its non-miner residents admitted to miners' hospital, a state-owned and operated facility, where such funds were not proceeds in the county indigent hospital claims fund [county health care assistance fund] but instead were proceeds from another county fund. The county could, however, use any proceeds in the indigent hospital claims fund to provide medical care for indigent patients at the miners' hospital if they otherwise qualify. 1988 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 88-41.
Unused fund balances in the health care assistance fund may be used in subsequent fiscal years for any authorized purpose.
— Under the Indigent Hospital and County Health Care Act (Act), 27-5-1 to 27-5-12.7 NMSA 1978, any balance remaining in the fund at the end of the fiscal year shall carry over into the ensuing year, and therefore, based on the plain language of Subsection D of this section any remaining balance in the fund may be used for any purpose specified in the act.
County Health Care Assistance Fund
(12/1/2022), Att'y Gen. Adv. Ltr. 2022-15.