U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández on Thursday introduced legislation that would reverse rate cuts for veterans’ home healthcare services and require congressional notification of any future reductions.
Between 2025 and 2026, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs slashed reimbursement rates for home health aide services in New Mexico by nearly 20%. Caregiving agencies and state officials have argued the change will reduce access to care for some of the state’s 150,000 veterans, but the federal agency has insisted the reduced rates were intended to make them more consistent with local markets.
Heinrich and Leger Fernández’s bill, known as the Protecting Home-Based Care for Rural Veterans Act, is the latest in a series of efforts to undo the rate reductions. It is co-sponsored by U.S. Reps. Gabe Vasquez and Melanie Stansbury, as well as seven Democrats from Texas, where such rates also were reduced.
“Homecare services are not luxuries. They are earned benefits that allow disabled and elderly veterans to remain in their homes and live with dignity,” Heinrich said in a statement. “The Trump administration has repeatedly refused to reverse its cuts to VA homecare reimbursement rates in New Mexico — denying veterans the care they have earned.”
In 2025, the VA paid New Mexico home health aides — who help clients accomplish activities of daily living, like bathing, dressing and preparing meals — $16.75 for every 15 minutes of work, the federal agency’s fee schedule shows. That’s $5.17 more than the national average of $11.58.
Starting Jan. 1, the reimbursement rate for home health aides dropped by 19%, to $13.50 in New Mexico, according to the fee schedule.
Some Texas providers were hit with even deeper cuts. In parts of the state including El Paso, Amarillo and West Texas — known in VA rate sheets as the “rest of Texas” — the rate for home health aides dropped from $16.75 to $9.50 between 2025 and 2026.
Home healthcare companies, state officials and members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation were quick to decry the rate cuts, arguing they would make it harder to operate in a state already grappling with a dearth of caregivers and a reimbursement system that doesn’t account for some of the challenges of caring for rural residents.
Federal officials, however, have repeatedly said the reductions were the result of an agency mandate to ensure its rates align with prevailing rates in a local market.
“Aligning these rates with market conditions is not expected to affect Veteran care,” Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas Collins wrote in May in response to an inquiry about the rate cuts from New Mexico and Texas lawmakers.
If enacted, the Protecting Home-Based Care for Rural Veterans Act would reinstate the 2025 reimbursement rates, in addition to requiring the VA to alert Congress of any future rate reductions and produce reports about the adequacy of in-home care services for veterans and the methodology used in determining reimbursement rates.
Meggin Lorino, executive director of the New Mexico Association for Home and Hospice Care, said the bill is “critical to preserving veterans’ access to home-based care in rural communities.”
“When home health providers can’t afford to serve veterans, Veterans pay a steep price,” Leger Fernández added in a statement. “Our bill restores those cuts, brings transparency to how these rates are set, and makes sure the VA can never quietly pull the rug out from under veterans and their caregivers again.”
