When the Walz administration allowed illegal aliens into the Minnesota taxpayer-supported healthcare system, a bulletin was provided by the Minnesota Department of Human Services that basically provided a roadmap for how to commit fraud against the state.
Illegal immigrants were not only coached to provide unverifiable eligibility data (that could not be used to prosecute them for fraud) but were given apparent immunity for previously claiming to be legal citizens to fraudulently obtain Medicaid.
In 2025, Illegal noncitizens were allowed in MinnesotaCare, a state and federally supported healthcare program. No social security number was required, nor was there any minimum residency requirement. Any person who illegally entered the US could merely claim to “intend” to live in the state and become eligible for entirely free health care if they claimed to make under 160% of the federal poverty guidelines (FPG). Unsurprisingly, the program was overrun with three times the number of applicants as expected and so the program was eliminated for adults after 2026.
“MinnesotaCare eligibility will be approved for an applicant who indicates they do not have a lawfully present status if they meet all other MinnesotaCare eligibility criteria.” The DHS bulletin outlines, concluding: “Proof that a person is undocumented is not required.” Neither is an address.
Interestingly, if you previously said you were here illegally, and now present as legal, you must be rechecked. But when “an enrollee who previously indicated that they are a U.S. citizen or lawfully present noncitizen corrects or updates their information to indicate that they are not considered lawfully present, the new attested information is not subject to verification.”
Under the current rules, fifth-generation Minnesotan Bob could simply decide his health insurance is unaffordable and sign up as a jobless illegal immigrant and get free coverage next month. How would the state know he was here legally if he gave the wrong name and claimed to have no social security number, address or other form of identification? The official policy of the Walz administration is that “proof that a person is undocumented is not required.”
Presumably the state of Minnesota believes many of those currently on MinnesotaCare who lack legal citizenship were previously on Medicaid illegally. The bulletin says that enrollees may “correct” this oversight without any further redetermination. Will they be allowed to transfer back to Medicaid when MinnesotaCare for illegals goes away?
During 2025, any person from any state in the U.S. or country in the world was invited to sign up for MinnesotaCare, with or without the legal right to be here. If the enrollee claimed to have no address, no social security and no money, the state had to give them free health care without any means whatsoever to verify eligibility. Fraudsters who previously lied about their immigration status to get free Medicaid were given the opportunity to obtain free MinnesotaCare without paying back a dime to the state for the stolen Medicaid. Currently, illegal immigrants are on the honor system when it comes to free health care in Minnesota, while people who admit to having a social security number are forced through an exhaustive application process and eligibility determination.
Is it any wonder than Minnesota has become the “Land of 10,000 Scams”?
This article references the following publication by the Minnesota Department of Human Services: https://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/groups/publications/documents/pub/mndhs-068276.pdf
