ST. PAUL, Minn. — Adults living in the U.S. illegally will be excluded from a state-run health care program under an overall budget deal that the closely divided Minnesota Legislature convened to pass in a special session Monday.
Repealing a 2023 state law that made those immigrants eligible for the MinnesotaCare program for the working poor was a priority for Republicans in the negotiations that produced the budget agreement. The Legislature is split 101-100, with the House tied and Democrats holding just a one-seat majority in the Senate, and the health care compromise was a bitter pill for Democrats to accept.
The change is expected to affect about 17,000 residents.
After an emotional near four-hour debate, the House aroved the bill 68-65. Under the agreement, the top House Democratic leader, Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, was the only member of her caucus to vote yes. The bill then went to the Senate, where it passed 37-30. Democratic Majority Leader Erin Murphy, of St. Paul, called it “a wound on the soul of Minnesota,” but kept her promise to vote yes as part of the deal, calling it “among the most painful votes I’ve ever taken.”
Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who insisted on maintaining eligibility for children who aren’t in the country legally, has promised to sign the legislation, and all 13 other bills scheduled for action in the special session, to complete a $66 billion, two-year budget that will take effect July 1.
“This is 100% about the GOP campaign against immigrants,” said House Democratic Floor Leader Jamie Long, of Minneapolis, who voted no. “From Trump’s renewed travel ban announced this week, to his effort to expel those with protected status, to harassing students here to study, to disproportionate military and law enforcement responses that we’ve seen from Minneapolis to L.A., this all comes back to attacking immigrants and the name of dividing us.”
But GOP Rep. Jeff Backer, of Browns Valley, the lead author of the bill, said taxpayers shouldn’t have to subsidize health care for people who aren’t in the country legally.
Backer said California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has proposed freezing enrollment for immigrants without legal status in a similar state-funded program and that Illinois’ Democratic governor, JB Pritzker, has proposed cutting a similar program.
He said residents can still buy health insurance on the private market regardless of their immigration status.
“This is about being fiscally responsible,” Backer said.
Enrollment by people who entered the country illegally in MinnesotaCare has run triple the initial projections, which Republicans said could have pushed the costs over $600 million over the next four years. Critics said the change won’t save any money because those affected will forego preventive care and need much more expensive care later.
“People don’t suddenly stop getting sick when they don’t have insurance, but they do put off seeking care until a condition gets bad enough to require a visit to the emergency room, increasing overall health care costs for everyone,” Bernie Burnham, president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, told reporters at a news conference organized by the critics.
Walz and legislative leaders agreed on the broad framework for the budget over four weeks ago, contrasting the bipartisan cooperation that produced it with the deep divisions at the federal level in Washington.
But with the tie in the House and the razor-thin Senate Democratic majority, few major policy initiatives got off the ground before the regular session ended May 19. Leaders announced Friday that the details were settled and that they had enough votes to pass everything in the budget package.