Getting paid to care for a family member in New Mexico
Yes.
In New Mexico, a family member can be paid to give care through Self-Directed Community Benefit (SDCB) and Agency-Based Community Benefit (ABCB). Whether a spouse can be paid depends on conditions set out below with their sources.
Checked
Each fact below links to its official source and shows the date we checked it. How we verify
We do not sell your information. No sales calls, no lead forms.
Medicaid self-directed care
Self-Directed Community Benefit (SDCB)
Checked
Who qualifies
Turquoise Care members who meet nursing facility level of care and are found through an assessment to need Community Benefit services. Self-direction lets you choose how your services are given and who gives them. You can be the employer of the people you hire, or have another person act as the employer of record.
If you are new to the Community Benefit, you must start with the Agency-Based Community Benefit for at least 120 days before the switch to Self-Directed can take place (Turquoise Care Community Benefit FAQ, MAD 792). The Community Benefit does not provide 24-hour care.
Yes.
Yes. Any family member or friend can be a paid caregiver for a member who qualifies for personal care services. In SDCB, the caregiver is employed by the member or the member's employer of record and must complete the employment paperwork, background checks and fingerprinting as needed.
Depends.
Only with formal approval from the health plan. A spouse may serve as an SDCB provider under extraordinary circumstances, to assure the member's health and welfare and avoid a move to an institution. The health plan decides case by case.
The Health Care Authority says the health plan first completes a needs assessment and approves the spouse. A spouse cannot be paid for care they would ordinarily give in the household to someone of the same age without a disability or chronic illness.
Turquoise Care members who meet nursing facility level of care and are found through an assessment to need Community Benefit services. Personal care services under the Community Benefit are for members 21 or older and are given through a personal care agency that contracts with your health plan.
You can choose the consumer-delegated model, where the agency does all employer tasks, or the consumer-directed model, where you oversee your own care and the agency handles the paperwork.
Yes.
Yes. Under both personal care models you may select a family member, a friend, a neighbor or another person as your attendant. A family member cannot be paid for a service they would otherwise give as a natural support.
An attendant who lives with you cannot be paid for household chores routinely shared in the household unless they are specific to you. The Health Care Authority's Family Paid Caregivers explainer (7/8/24) adds that the caregiver must become an employee of the home health agency.
Depends.
Depends. New Mexico's sources disagree. The state's approved Turquoise Care demonstration lets the state pay legally responsible individuals, which includes a spouse, for personal care services for Community Benefit members. The Health Care Authority's Letter of Direction #108 says a spouse can be hired only in extraordinary circumstances, when other qualified caregivers cannot be found and kept, with written approval from the health plan that is renewed every year. The state rule, 8.308.12 NMAC, still says a member may select a family member 'with the exception of the member's spouse'.
Letter of Direction #108 (New Mexico Medical Assistance Division, November 21, 2023) applies from November 12, 2023: the personal care agency makes the request with your permission and must document its attempts to find other caregivers. It says it applies until it is added to the Managed Care Policy Manual or NMAC; 8.308.12 NMAC, read on November 2, 2026, has not been changed. The Health Care Authority's Family Paid Caregivers explainer (7/8/24) says a spouse can be a paid caregiver once the health plan has completed a needs assessment and approved the spouse.
If you are a Turquoise Care member, talk to your care coordinator at your health plan. You and the care coordinator do a needs review in your home, which sets how much help you get and what type. If you do not qualify for Turquoise Care, call the Aging and Disability Resource Center for help. To use a spouse as the caregiver in SDCB, contact the health plan for approval, then work with your Support Broker to start the employment process.
The spouse and Support Broker steps are from the Health Care Authority's Family Paid Caregivers explainer (7/8/24).
If you are a Turquoise Care member, talk to your care coordinator at your health plan. You and the care coordinator do a needs review in your home, which sets how much help you get and what type. If you do not qualify for Turquoise Care, call the Aging and Disability Resource Center for help. To use a spouse as the caregiver, contact your health plan care coordinator for approval.
