Senate advances bill to allow hospitals to grant Medicaid presumptive eligibility after a positive newborn screen

Senators on the committee voted to adopt an author's amendment and recommended passage of Senate File 11‑75, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Senator Bolden that would allow hospitals to establish presumptive Medicaid eligibility for newborns who receive a positive newborn screen, the bill’s author said.

Senator Bolden introduced the measure as a way to speed access to urgent care for infants whose newborn screening indicates a congenital or heritable condition. “This is a bill that connects presumptive eligibility for Medicaid with positive newborn screening results, to ensure that infants with urgent medical needs can get immediate care,” Bolden told the committee.

Health and rare‑disease advocates and clinicians supported the change. Erica Barnes, executive director of the Minnesota Rare Disease Advisory Council, told the committee that newborn screening is often the only chance to detect certain conditions early enough to prevent catastrophic outcomes and that “allowing hospitals to presume eligibility for Medicaid immediately while waiting for the final disability determination will expedite delivery of care to these children.” Barnes said Minnesota identifies about 109 newborns a year, on average, with conditions detected by the state’s newborn screening program.

Susan Berry, M.D., a professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota and director of the university’s rare disease center, said some conditions require very rapid interventions. Using Krabbe disease as an example, Berry said the only effective therapy can be a bone marrow transplant performed within the first month of life to have meaningful effect. “It’s wrong to screen for treatable disorders and then have a family be unable to begin the only possible life‑saving intervention because they don't have the financial means,” she said.

Committee members adopted the A1 author’s amendment without a recorded roll‑call (Chair called the voice vote, “A1 is adopted”) and later voted by voice to recommend that Senate File 11‑75 as amended “be recommended to pass and be re‑referred to the Committee on Health and Human Services.” The committee clerk recorded the motion as carried and the bill will move on to Health and Human Services for further consideration.

Supporters said the measure would reduce administrative delays that can block or slow urgently needed treatments and would reduce hospital length of stay by enabling quicker discharge planning when families lack immediate coverage. Opponents did not force a recorded vote in committee during the hearing.

The committee also heard technical questions about how presumptive eligibility interacts with private insurance and the disability determination process; witnesses said hospitals and clinicians typically provide urgent care regardless of coverage, but families can face financial uncertainty and administrative delays when private insurance is not yet active or when specialized medical foods or therapies are not covered by a family’s plan. Supporters said Medicaid is typically the payer of last resort but that presumptive eligibility ensures timely billing and authorization while full eligibility is finalized.

Senate File 11‑75 will go to the Health and Human Services Committee with the committee’s recommendation that it pass as amended.