Action Alert: Protect Coverage for Minnesota’s Medically Complex Children

Legislation: S.F. 4502 | H.F. 4347

Urgency Level: Critical (Committee Deadline: April 17)

Minnesota families are facing a critical moment in access to home care nursing. Commercial health plans have begun implementing arbitrary caps on Home Care Nursing (HCN) benefits, some as low as 10 days per year. This has been the law in Minnesota for over 15 years, providing consistent coverage for families of medically complex children. Recent changes now threaten that stability and risk limiting access to life-sustaining care.

Proposed legislation, S.F. 4502 and H.F. 4347, aims to address this issue by prohibiting health plans from placing quantity limits on medically necessary home care nursing services.

Here’s Where Things Currently Stand:

1. The Senate: Success! Following the hearing on 3/24, S.F. 4502 will be included in the Senate Commerce omnibus bill.
2. The House: We face a roadblock. On 3/25, the bill failed to pass the House Commerce Committee due to a tied vote.
3. The Reality: Because of this tie, we are just one or two votes away from ensuring these protections move forward. We need the House to include this language in their own omnibus bill before the April 17 deadline.

Why This Matters

When private insurance refuses to pay for medically necessary nursing care, the burden falls entirely on the parents.

Home care nursing services are defined as ongoing, continuous, and medically necessary skilled nursing care provided by licensed nurses for individuals with complex medical needs, often requiring monitoring and intervention that cannot be met through intermittent visits.

Families are forced to choose between quitting their jobs to provide 24/7 care or watching their children go without the critical support they need.

These caps risk undermining the very intent of Minnesota’s coverage requirements, leaving our most vulnerable children without the care they were promised.

A Mother’s Advocacy

“There is a singular fight my child and I are familiar with, championed every time by the will to survive. Mothers of medically complex children have seen unimaginable tragedy and equal triumph. This time, we were not triumphant, but this is not the end of the road.

Our family will keep fighting for justice for vulnerable children against legislators and insurance companies that continue to make an already difficult situation harder. I believe we will succeed in providing the best care and opportunities for our children, keeping them safe, out of hospitals, and in the care of incredible nurses at home.”

— Katherine, Team Select Home Care Parent

How You Can Help (Before April 17)

Your story is the most powerful tool we have to break the tie in the House. We need you to reach out to the House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee today.

Step 1 – Find Your Legislator:

Use the Who Represents Me tool to find your state representative.

Step 2 – Contact Key Decision Makers

If your representative is on the House Commerce Committee, your outreach is especially important.

We also encourage families and caregivers to contact:

• Members of the House Ways and Means Committee
• House GOP leadership

These leaders play a key role in determining what legislation moves forward before the deadline.

Step 3: Share Your Message

You can call or email using this script:

“I am a constituent calling to ask you to include H.F. 4347 in the Commerce Omnibus bill. Commercial insurance caps on nursing care are limiting access to medically necessary services. Please protect Minnesota’s medically complex children.”

What’s Next?

As the April 17 deadline approaches, the path forward remains uncertain. The House has an opportunity to act, either by reconsidering the bill or including its protections in a broader package.

What happens next will directly impact whether families continue to have access to the care their children depend on.

Advocacy at this moment matters.