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256L.09 RESIDENCY.
    Subdivision 1. Findings and purpose. The legislature finds that the enactment of a
comprehensive health plan for uninsured Minnesotans creates a risk that persons needing medical
care will migrate to the state for the primary purpose of obtaining medical care subsidized by the
state. The risk of migration undermines the state's ability to provide to legitimate state residents a
valuable and necessary health care program which is an important component of the state's
comprehensive cost containment and health care system reform plan. Intent-based residency
requirements, which are expressly authorized under decisions of the United States Supreme Court,
are an unenforceable and ineffective method of denying benefits to those persons the Supreme
Court has stated may legitimately be denied eligibility for state programs. If the state is unable to
limit eligibility to legitimate permanent residents of the state, the state faces a significant risk that
it will be forced to reduce the eligibility and benefits it would otherwise provide to Minnesotans.
The legislature finds that a durational residence requirement is a legitimate, objective, enforceable
standard for determining whether a person is a permanent resident of the state. The legislature also
finds low-income persons who have not lived in the state for the required time period will have
access to necessary health care services through the general assistance medical care program, the
medical assistance program, and public and private charity care programs.
    Subd. 2. Residency requirement. (a) To be eligible for health coverage under the
MinnesotaCare program, adults without children must be permanent residents of Minnesota.
(b) To be eligible for health coverage under the MinnesotaCare program, pregnant women,
families, and children must meet the residency requirements as provided by Code of Federal
Regulations, title 42, section 435.403, except that the provisions of section 256B.056, subdivision
1
, shall apply upon receipt of federal approval.
    Subd. 3.[Repealed, 1998 c 407 art 5 s 48]
    Subd. 4. Eligibility as Minnesota resident. (a) For purposes of this section, a permanent
Minnesota resident is a person who has demonstrated, through persuasive and objective evidence,
that the person is domiciled in the state and intends to live in the state permanently.
    (b) To be eligible as a permanent resident, an applicant must demonstrate the requisite intent
to live in the state permanently by:
    (1) showing that the applicant maintains a residence at a verified address, through the use of
evidence of residence described in section 256D.02, subdivision 12a, paragraph (b), clause (2);
    (2) demonstrating that the applicant has been continuously domiciled in the state for no less
than 180 days immediately before the application; and
    (3) signing an affidavit declaring that (A) the applicant currently resides in the state and
intends to reside in the state permanently; and (B) the applicant did not come to the state for the
primary purpose of obtaining medical coverage or treatment.
    (c) A person who is temporarily absent from the state does not lose eligibility for
MinnesotaCare. "Temporarily absent from the state" means the person is out of the state for a
temporary purpose and intends to return when the purpose of the absence has been accomplished.
A person is not temporarily absent from the state if another state has determined that the person
is a resident for any purpose. If temporarily absent from the state, the person must follow the
requirements of the health plan in which the person is enrolled to receive services.
    Subd. 5. Persons excluded as permanent residents. An individual or family that moved to
Minnesota primarily to obtain medical treatment or health coverage for a preexisting condition is
not a permanent resident.
    Subd. 6. 12-month preexisting exclusion. If the 180-day requirement in subdivision 4,
paragraph (b), clause (2), is determined by a court to be unconstitutional, the commissioner of
human services shall impose a 12-month preexisting condition exclusion on coverage for persons
who have been domiciled in the state for less than 180 days.
    Subd. 7. Effect of a court determination. If any paragraph, sentence, clause, or phrase of
this section is for any reason determined by a court to be unconstitutional, the decision shall not
affect the validity of the remaining portions of the section. The legislature declares that it would
have passed each paragraph, sentence, clause, and phrase in this section, irrespective of the fact
that any one or more paragraphs, sentences, clauses, or phrases is declared unconstitutional.
History: 1986 c 444; 1992 c 549 art 4 s 10,19; 1993 c 247 art 4 s 11; 1994 c 625 art 8 s 72;
1997 c 225 art 1 s 14; 1998 c 407 art 5 s 34-36; 2007 c 147 art 5 s 30

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes