Hunger in Minnesota continues to grow. During 2024, nearly 9 million food insecure Minnesotans visited food shelves—more than one-third of visitors were children. Overall, food shelf visits from 2023 to 2024 increased by an average of 18 percent in Minnesota’s 87 counties. Some Greater Minnesota food shelves experienced double and triple increases in visits from the previous year. Minnesota addressed growing hunger and food insecurity by increasing funding for regional food banks, food shelf programs, and the American Indian Food Sovereignty Funding Program. Minnesota also created a prepared meals grant program to provide hunger relief to Minnesotans who have difficulty preparing meals due to limited mobility, disability, or limited resources. Nonprofit organizations or Tribal governments that provide or distribute prepared meals that are customized for the population they serve–– including tailoring meals to cultural, religious, and dietary needs–– are eligible for grants. Funding for these programs was included in the Health, Children and Families Finance bill (HF 2).
In 2023, Minnesota created a Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program to support the health, well-being and economic security of working Minnesotans. Starting January 1, 2026, working Minnesotans can take paid leave for significant life events: managing their own serious health condition—including pregnancy and postpartum recovery, caring for a family member with a serious health condition, bonding with a new child, addressing safety needs related to domestic violence, and responding to a family member’s military duties. Employees can take up to 12 weeks of leave for their own medical needs, and an additional 12 weeks of leave for family caregiving, with a total of 20 weeks in a single year. Several bills were introduced during the 2025 session to undermine the PFML program, including: postponing the implementation date, limiting the definition of a family member, decreasing benefits, shortening leave duration, decreasing employer payroll contributions, and exempting micro or small businesses from PFML. Advocates successfully fought against these harmful bills, amendments and budget negotiation proposals.
Minnesota advanced maternal health and child health by passing HF1878 / SF2117, instructing the Minnesota Department of Human Services to submit an 1115 Waiver for medical assistance (MA), Minnesota’s Medicaid program, to cover traditional health care practices received through American Indian health service facilities. Expanding Medicaid coverage to traditional health care practices is a holistic strategy to address health disparities in the American Indian community, improve access to culturally appropriate care, and bridge the gap between traditional healing practices and the institutionalized health care model. Requirements include “qualified providers” determining whether an enrollee is eligible to receive traditional health care practices. Qualified providers are employed or contract with Indian Health Services, a 638 Tribal clinic, or Title V urban Indian organization. Facilities are responsible for ensuring traditional health care providers have the appropriate experience and training to provide traditional health care practices. Incorporating traditional health care practices with institutional medical billing practices improves health outcomes in the American Indian community. Traditional healing practices take a holistic approach to addressing the physical, mental, and spiritual needs of their community and include ceremonies (birth, rites of passage, sweat lodge), traditional food intervention, talking circles, smudging, and substance use recovery programs.
Minnesota continues to make incremental progress around maternal health as it relates to birth centers (HF1793 / SF2109), birth services provided at home (HF96 / SF1113), and midwifery services (HF1010 / SF832). Advocates in Minnesota call for robust investment in birth worker reimbursement rates and billing infrastructure but were strategic in their targeted advocacy to expand reimbursement for certain provider types. New legislation (HF1793 / SF2109) requires birth center facility fees to be reimbursed at the same rate as a hospital, for an uncomplicated vaginal delivery. Similar legislation (HF96 / SF1113) increases reimbursement for birth workers who provide services in the home by setting supply reimbursement to 70% of a hospital facility fee. The creation of a certified midwife licensure and expansion of Medicaid coverage to services provided by certified midwives (HF1010 / SF832) is designed to allow more candidates from diverse backgrounds and professions to complete the certification process to enter the midwifery workforce. Education, training, and certification of certified midwives fall under the Board of Nursing. Certified midwives and certified nurse midwives differ in how they entered their midwifery educational programs, but not in their scope of work or ability to provide care for pregnant people and newborns.
Minnesota continues to invest in child health and will begin increasing reimbursement rates for mental and behavioral health providers to 100% of the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (HF1005 / SF1599). This increase comes after Minnesota raised reimbursement rates to 85% of the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule in previous years and years of advocacy around a 2024 Legislative Report on Minnesota’s Health Care Programs Fee-for-Service Outpatient Services Rate Study. This same legislation requires Minnesota’s Department of Human Services to establish market value rates for other mental and behavioral health services—including children’s therapeutic services and supports, child and family psychoeducation service, and mental health certified family peer specialist services.
Minnesota made progress to improve data systems and strengthen state infrastructure by taking advantage of the pragmatic nature of the 2025 Legislative Session to invest in the Social Services Information System, used for Minnesota’s child welfare cases. New legislation (HF 2925) provides $35 million for the upgrade and modernization of the platform to help streamline casework, improve efficiency, reduce administrative burdens, and allow caseworkers to spend more time directly supporting children and families.
Child care access and affordability were popular topics of discussion, especially in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Minnesota ranks fourth in the nation for the cost of child care. The average annual cost of infant care is nearly $23,000. The Workforce and Labor Development Omnibus bill (SF 17 / HF 15) included funding for grants to local communities to increase the number of quality child care providers, especially in Greater Minnesota where communities are experiencing significant provider shortages. The bill also included direct funding to the six Minnesota Initiative Foundations to sustain and increase regional providers, and to two nonprofits to train providers and subsidize child care costs. House File 2 lowered Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) co-payments for Minnesota families, capping them at 7% of a family’s income. Currently, families who are part of CCAP spend up to 14% of their income on child care co-payments. Unfortunately, this new fee schedule won’t go into effect until October 2028. Additionally, HF 2 resets the CCAP redetermination date for all eligible children in a family when a new eligible child is added to a family. These two programmatic changes are necessary to bring CCAP into federal compliance with CCDF requirements.
Two policies focused on infant and toddler safety passed during the special legislative session. The first policy, included in House File 2/Senate File 6, requires licensed child care centers that have a substantiated child maltreatment report, to install video security cameras in each room designated for infants or toddlers. The center must retain the video recordings for 28 days after the date of the recording. If the center is notified by law enforcement of a suspected crime against a child, the center must keep the recordings until the investigation is complete. If the center has a video recording of a reportable incident, the center must keep the recordings for six months. Centers are allowed to use redacted recordings for training purposes. The new law addresses recording dissemination and written policy and notice requirements. The new child safety camera law includes grants of up to $4,000 to help centers pay for cameras and related training. The second policy requires pediatric care providers to provide parents and caregivers of infants up to six months of age with materials on how to recognize the signs of and report infant physical abuse. The new law also includes funding for materials development.
