Demuth: Healthcare Expansion More Than Doubles Cost Projections

ST. PAUL (WJON News) -- Healthcare enrollment expansion balloons costs in Minnesota.

House Speaker Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring says new data reveal enrollment in MinnesotaCare for those in the state illegally has more than doubled initial estimates.

The Minnesota Department of Health indicates over 17,000 people in the state illegally are now enrolled in the state-funded health insurance program, more than twice the original forecast of 7,700.

The expansion passed in 2023 was originally projected to cost $196 million over four years. However, at the current enrollment, that cost has ballooned to an estimated $550 million.

Demuth says, unlike traditional MinnesotaCare recipients, people who are in Minnesota illegally are not eligible for federal funding. Typically, the federal government covers 90 percent of the program costs, with the state responsible for the remaining 10 percent. Minnesota has to cover the full cost of these recipients.

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Demuth says Republicans have introduced legislation to repeal the MinnesotaCare expansion for people in the state illegally.

Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy released the following statement on the Republican press conference about removing undocumented Minnesota residents from health insurance coverage.

“There are very few issues on which hospitals, doctors, nurses, religious organizations, labor unions and insurers agree and speak with one voice. Stripping insurance coverage and healthcare access from undocumented Minnesotans is one of them. This proposal does financial harm, costing people more in the form of increased premiums and uncompensated care. Denying care is an affront to human dignity. That is wrong.

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