This Is Medicaid

06/29/2026

We're reading a round-up of federal changes that impact Minnesotans' care.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services disenrolled an astonishing 3,411 healthcare providers from the ability to bill Medicaid.

06/25/2026

Such an important message here: listen and learn from the care givers.

Too often, conversations about disability services at the Minnesota Capitol happen without meaningful input from the people who do this work.

06/24/2026

Critical read: sharing an article by our partners at NAMI Minnesota outlining the stark and painful outcomes if work reporting requirements are not improved.

The already complicated process of applying for or renewing Medicaid coverage (known as “Medical Assistance” or “MA” in Minnesota) will be more complex and difficult to navigate, especially for people with mental illnesses. The 2025 Congressional Budget Reconciliation Bill - H.R.1, aka the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, made sweeping changes to the Medicaid program. One of the biggest changes under the new law is that most adults without dependent children who qualify for Medicaid based on their income (also known as the “Medicaid Expansion” group) will be subject to work reporting requirements starting in 2027. This same group will also need to renew their Medicaid coverage every six months, rather than once a year. Medicaid is the largest payer of mental health services in our state, and these changes will directly harm Minnesota's mental health system.

The law passed by Congress explicitly recognized that work reporting requirements were not appropriate for many people with mental health and substance use challenges. However, the new rules issued last week require someone not just to have a certain condition (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar) but also to show that the condition impairs their ability to work. The rules also limit the state's ability to allow people to self-attest, instead requiring them to gather and submit evidence of a condition that prevents them from working. These new rules are much more restrictive than anyone expected and deeply harmful.

Read the full commentary here: https://minnesotareformer.com/2026/06/23/new-medicaid-rules-will-devastate-mental-healthcare-in-minnesota/

06/22/2026

We're reading MPR's coverage of the federal rural hospital grants that were part of the One Big Beautiful Bill signed into law last July.

Rural health care providers in Minnesota and across the country are bracing for heavy Medicaid funding cuts next year.

06/18/2026

Important read about the fallout from the federal cuts to and other federal actions in Minnesota: From MinnPost's Andy Steiner: "Recovering Hope is one of only a small number of residential addiction treatment centers in Minnesota where women with substance use disorder (SUD) can live with their infants and young children, and where the children receive daily childcare. Nearly all of its clients rely on Medicaid to fund their stay. But as I’ve reported on previously for this series, impending cuts to Medicaid threaten to alter the state’s treatment landscape fundamentally."

As financial uncertainty mounts amid threats to Medicaid funding, a treatment center for moms and kids in Mora, Minn., tries to survive.

05/18/2026

At a recent press conference, rural health leaders & advocates warned that changes in H.R. 1 could deepen the maternal health and hospital access crisis already impacting communities across Greater Minnesota.

“Labor and delivery care in rural Minnesota has been shutting down in rural hospitals over the past several years,” said Rebecca Polston of Roots Community Birth Center. “We’ve seen a 25% reduction over the past two decades.”

“We are losing the ability to deliver our own babies.” Rick Ash of United Hospital District, a critical access hospital in south central Minnesota, shared that it is the only hospital still delivering babies between a 135 mile stretch along I-90. “This is not theoretical. This is about whether rural Minnesota families will still have access to emergency care, primary care, behavioral health, and the ability to safely deliver a baby close to home. A different ZIP code should never mean a lower standard of health care.”

Photo credit: Minnesota Hospital Association

05/15/2026

At last week’s press conference, health care experts raised concerns about new work reporting requirements beginning in January could cause eligible Minnesotans to lose their health coverage.

Matt Anderson of University of Minnesota School of Public Health explained that the majority of these individuals already meet the requirements because they are working, caregiving, or otherwise exempt due to disability.

“Put simply, this is not just about changing who qualifies for Medicaid,” Anderson said. “It’s about requiring eligible people to prove it—over and over and over—knowing that some of them will eventually slip up and lose coverage even though they are eligible.”

Photo credit: Minnesota Hospital Association

05/08/2026

When developing new work reporting requirements for this session, Minnesota policymakers should broadly define exemptions while increasing flexibility for enrollment and enforcement. They should minimize red tape through simplifying processes and strengthening the eligibility and enrollment process, otherwise, people risk losing essential health care even if they remain eligible.