The fight over giving undocumented Minnesotans health insurance
This is the first year Minnesota is providing undocumented workers with the state health insurance known as MinnesotaCare.
Republicans at the State Capitol say they want to end the program, in large part because of the cost to taxpayers.
But Democrats — as well as hospitals, doctors and nurses — are lobbying to keep the benefit.
Republicans at a news conference this week said the numbers of undocumented residents signing up for state health care is way more than expected.
So far, 17,000 undocumented residents have signed up. The original projection was 5,700. And the estimated cost will be more than $600 million over four years — $400 million more than the original projected cost.
State Sen. Jordan Rasmusson, R-Fergus Falls, was a guest on WCCO Sunday Morning at 10:30 a.m.
"We have seen the number of illegal immigrant enrollees triple what the Democrats estimated back when they were looking at the program starting," Rasmusson said. "This is a program that unfortunately is incentivizing illegal immigrants to come here to Minnesota because of these benefits."
But supporting health care for the undocumented are the influential Minnesota Hospital Association, the Minnesota Medical Association and the Minnesota Nurses Association.
They argue undocumented residents pay $222 million in taxes each year, and having the undocumented insured means hospitals and doctors get reimbursed. It also means less undocumented residents will have to postpone medical care until it's an emergency.
The law's author, Sen. Alice Mann, DFL-Edina, is also an ER physician.
"To take care of someone who is ill is something that could have been taken care of two months ago than it is when they showed up in the emergency department. So the health care cost of treating something further down the line is much more expensive," Mann said.
She also argues that the Republican numbers are inflated, and so far this year the undocumented have submitted $3.4 million in claims, with an estimated cost to taxpayers of $112 million over four years.
With just over three weeks left in the session, and with Democrats in control of the Senate, Rasmusson's bill to eliminate funding for undocumented health care is unlikely to pass. But the debate over undocumented workers is certain to continue both in Minnesota and across the nation.
You can watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Adam Del Rosso every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
