New Mexico State Veterans' Home in Truth or Consequences

Section 23-4-1 declares the New Mexico state veterans' home near Truth or Consequences a state home for veterans "and their qualifying spouses, surviving spouses and gold star parents", under the Department of Health. It also declares the "Fort Bayard medical center veterans' unit", a separate unit of the Fort Bayard Medical Center near Silver City, a state home for veterans. The Department of Health's page calls Truth or Consequences "the state's first and only State Veterans Home". The home. It told the Legislature's Military and Veterans' Affairs Committee in August 2025 that it had 128 residents and room for 131, in a 59-bed annex with secure memory care units and six new houses of twelve residents each, which VA recognised in March 2025. Rooms are private with private bathrooms, and couples can live together. Who may be admitted, by statute. Section 23-4-3, subsection A: a United States citizen who enlisted or was drafted, inducted or commissioned, was accepted for and assigned to active duty, and "was not separated from the armed forces under circumstances amounting to a dishonorable discharge", under rules of the Secretary of Veterans' Services consistent with federal guidelines. Subsection B lets up to 25 percent of residents be spouses, surviving spouses and Gold Star parents, who are parents of a member missing in action or whose death was related to service. Who the home admits. Its admissions page says "Honorably discharged veterans with 90 days or more of service and their spouses", and lists as ineligible "A person whose only separation from one of the US Armed Forces was other than honorable". The statute excludes only circumstances amounting to a dishonorable discharge. A veteran with an other than honorable discharge who is refused should ask which rule the refusal rests on. New Mexico residence is not required, but residents come first when there is a waiting list. What it costs. The home's 2025 presentation says "VA covers the cost for Veterans with a service-connected disability of 70% or higher", which is what 38 U.S.C. 1745 requires. Everyone else pays by an ability-to-pay assessment of income and assets, with Medicaid, Medicare and private pay accepted. At the time, 42 of 128 residents were service-connected and 68 on Medicaid.