In 2005, the New Mexico legislature created the Small Employer Insurance Program (SEIP). SEIP is one of the Insure New Mexico! initiatives that addresses the problem of the high number of uninsured working adults in New Mexico. SEIP is specifically tailored towards helping small employers and non-profits, with 50 or fewer employees, to voluntarily buy into a state-administered pool if the firm has not offered insurance for twelve months. The pool is self-funded by premium contributions paid by employers and employees and backed by a stop-loss insurance policy. To maintain the integrity of the risk pool, high-risk SEIP members become members of the high-risk pool. The SEIP program and the Pool will use the same administrator so the individuals within the group will not know if they are drawing coverage from SEIP or from the Pool. The benefit package will be similar to the New Mexico State Coverage Insurance program.
