Medical Assistance for Youth Formerly in Foster Care

• If you have MA now, and foster care is or will be ending at age 18 or older, you do not need to reapply. We may contact you for updated information. Call your worker to report your new address, phone number or other contact information if it is changing.
  
  
• Your MA coverage will continue until you turn 26 years old if you aged out of foster care in Minnesota. You do not need to reapply unless you have a break in coverage. We may contact you for updated contact information.
  
  
• You must complete an application to apply for MA if you are a former foster care youth from another state who recently moved to Minnesota, or if you are a former foster care youth from Minnesota who has had a break in coverage.

You can contact your county or tribe’s health care office where you live to ask if you need to submit an application.

Apply with a MNsure Navigator

Call or email a MNsure navigator to get started. You can search a directory of MNsure navigators online.

MNsure navigators are trained experts who help with Medical Assistance applications, and are specifically trained to help former foster care youth complete the application process efficiently and accurately the first time. Their services are free and available by phone or in-person. 

Apply Online

Visit MNsure.org to apply online. You must first either sign in to or create a new account. Once you sign in, select the Apply button under Apply for Health Coverage WITH Financial Help on the home screen. Complete the online application. 

After submitting your application, contact a health care worker at the county or tribe where you live. Tell them you’ve submitted an online application for Medical Assistance, and you want to make sure they know you were in foster care in Minnesota or another state.

Apply with a Paper Application

Fill out the Application for Health Coverage and Help Paying Costs (DHS-6696) (PDF). If you were in foster care and enrolled in MA or Medicaid in any state, United States territory, or the District of Columbia at age 18 or older, answer “Yes” in Step 4, question 7. Then write your name, and write the state where you were in foster care on the day your foster care ended at age 18 or older. If you have questions, you can contact a health care worker at the county or tribe where you live.

Depending on your circumstances, coverage may:

• Start on the first day of the month that we get your application.
• Go back up to three months before the month we get your application.
• Continue the month after you age out of foster care, if you are already enrolled in Minnesota MA while in foster care.

There is no income limit for MA-FFY. If other people in your home are applying, we may need to ask for your income information to see if they qualify.

There is no cost for coverage for youth who were in foster care on the day they turned age 18 and are still under age 26.

Yes. There is no asset limit for MA-FFY. Assets are items like cars, checking and savings accounts, your home and financial investments.

Yes. Tell us if you have other health insurance or could get coverage through an employer or military service. Sometimes we can pay the cost of the other insurance so you can keep that coverage.

If foster care ended before you turned age 18, you are not eligible for MA under the MA-FFY basis, but you may be eligible for MA under a different category or for another program. See “What if I do not qualify and still need coverage?” in the next section.

If you do not meet the criteria to qualify for MA-FFY, you may still qualify for other health care coverage or help paying costs, such as:

• MA under a different category, also known as an MA basis of eligibility 
• MinnesotaCare
• A premium tax credit and cost-sharing reductions to help pay for private insurance through Minnesota's health insurance marketplace, MNsure. The tax credit helps pay part or all of the health care premium. Cost-sharing reductions are a form of financial help that help to reduce the out-of-pocket costs associated with private health insurance, such as deductibles, co-insurance and co-payments.

• County and tribal health care office directory
• Health Care Consumer Support
• For questions about foster care, contact Adolescent Services