State-Funded Healthcare Costs for Unauthorized Immigrants Exceed Initial Projections by Double
St. Paul, MN — State Representative Krista Knudsen (R-Lake Shore) is raising serious concerns over Minnesota’s ballooning taxpayer-funded healthcare program for illegal immigrants, calling the recent enrollment surge a reckless misuse of public funds that undermines the state's financial stability and the healthcare needs of its citizens.
“MinnesotaCare was created as a lifeline for low-income Minnesotans, not as a blank check for those who knowingly violated our immigration laws,” said Knudsen. “We are facing a six billion dollar deficit, and instead of focusing on seniors, rural hospitals, EMS services, and mental health resources, Democrats have chosen to spend hundreds of millions on a program that puts non-citizens ahead of our own people.”
Recent figures from the Minnesota Department of Health show that 17,396 illegal immigrants are now enrolled in MinnesotaCare, more than doubling the original projection of 7,700. Because these enrollees are not eligible for federal funding, Minnesota taxpayers are covering 100 percent of the costs, which are estimated to rise from 196 million dollars to over 550 million dollars in just four years.
Rep. Knudsen emphasized that this kind of spending sends the wrong message and risks long-term damage to essential services.
“We cannot afford to mismanage taxpayer dollars like this, especially when rural Minnesotans are seeing clinics close, ambulance wait times grow, and seniors struggle to get care,” Knudsen added. “This is not compassionate governance. It is a dangerous diversion of limited resources.”
As the legislative session nears its end, Knudsen pledged to continue working with her Republican colleagues to restore fiscal balance and focus investments on the Minnesotans who need help the most.
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