Families plead for Minnesota lawmakers to fix insurance loophole capping at-home nursing care hours for kids with disabilities

A small group of Minnesota parents is going head-to-head with two local health insurance companies, saying it's a matter of life and death.

It comes after insurers stopped paying for their kids' daily care, which they argue was covered as part of a 15-year-old state law. As the end of the Minnesota session nears, lawmakers have four days to make a change.

The care is impacting families like Reese Erickson's. The 6-year-old from Elk River was born a conjoined twin. Her heart stabilized her sister's, and the two were separated. As Remi Erickson started running, Reese Erickson's progression was much slower, and she relies on a shunt to protect her brain. It can malfunction at any time and cause major issues. 

The family's HealthPartners insurance has covered Reese Erickson's 20-hour daily care. But in January, they got a letter that said it would now be covered for just 70 days a year. 

"It was a shock and panic mode of how are we gonna get through a year with our nurses and what she needs?" said Reese Erickson's mother, Kate Erickson.

Her family said it cost $1 million to cover Reese Erickson's medical care last year. 

"So thinking about how we are going to cover that out-of-pocket — we can't. There's no way we could pay for it. We are like, what do we do next?" said Kate Erickson.

Roughly 30 minutes away in Medina, the Walter family is asking the same question. Their son Chase wears a trach to breathe and talk.

Recently, his parents got a letter from Medica and HealthPartners, explaining that they're capping services to 240 hours for the entire year. He is prescribed 84 hours a week, so the insurance now gives the family about three weeks of nursing care for the entire year. 

If these kids are not getting care at home, they're going to have to be in a hospital to get the care they need, their families say.

"You are going to have over-exhausted parents who've had to cut back on their nursing, and their child might die, that's the reality," said Emily Walter, Chase Walter's mother. 

But it's not just these families' lives at stake. There's a finite number of beds in the ICU. 

Dr. Michael Robert Shreve works with the sickest kids in the area and has been tracking the insurance changes.

"And then you have other patients with traumas or infections and there's no space for them," he said. "In some ways to me, we are setting the clock back 40 years; these kids, they have friends, they go to Target, they won't be able to do those things. They will be in the hospital."

The worst-case scenario, Shreve said, is that the kids will die at home.

Medica tells WCCO they are operating within state law and they made changes because those patients have some government benefits and can get covered by Medicaid. 

WCCO talked with a staffing agency that says Medicaid doesn't reimburse enough for them to pay nurses. So they can't function if all patients are on Medicaid.

Private insurers pay agencies around $100 an hour for complex home nursing care. Medicaid provides $63.

HealthPartners, which has been operating at a deficit, says it knows how important this care is, but it made the decision to enforce a limit to try and keep premiums affordable for the whole market.

For one of these kids to stay in the hospital overnight, the cost is around $10,000. The cost would eventually land on taxpayers. 

Meanwhile, insurers say they need to save money to keep the market fair. 

Below is Medica's full statement:

"We routinely review how we manage benefits on behalf of members to ensure we're aligned with state laws and other insurance carriers regarding how we administer benefits. In 2026 we have made changes to how benefits are administered for individuals who are dual enrolled with a Medica plan and enrolled in Minnesota's Medical Assistance program. We notified impacted members in May 2025 and recommended they work with their county waiver case manager to help avoid any disruption in care once plan benefit limits have been reached because home care services are a covered Medicaid benefit."

Read HealthPartners' statement below: 

"We understand how important extended home care nursing services are to families caring for children with complex medical needs. Health plans have included benefit limits for home care services for some time, and in the past we waived limits for some members who also had Medical Assistance as secondary coverage. For 2026, we made the decision to enforce the contractual benefit limit to help keep premiums affordable in the individual and family market, and to ensure a more level playing field among health plans. When a member reaches the commercial benefit limit, coverage continues through Medical Assistance, and our teams work closely with families and providers to support a thoughtful and smooth transition of care."

The Minnesota Council of Health Plans says: 

"We understand how critical home care nursing services are for families caring for children with complex medical needs, and we share the goal of ensuring access to care remains both reliable and affordable. Health insurance companies have offered meaningful reforms to legislative leaders that would ensure Medicaid appropriately covers care after members reach their commercial visit limits."