2026 Legislative Session Begins: AARP’s Priorities for Older Minnesotans

Each year, AARP Minnesota works with lawmakers from both parties to advance policies that reflect the needs and concerns of older Minnesotans.

As the 2026 legislative session moves forward, AARP is focused on protecting consumers from fraud, ensuring fair access to health coverage, expanding housing options, and strengthening protections for long‑term care residents. AARP Minnesota’s legislative priorities include the following:

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Removing Discrimination from Minnesota’s Medigap Laws

In 2025, Minnesota enacted significant changes to its Medicare supplemental insurance, known as Medigap, laws. If those changes are not addressed this session, Minnesota will become the only state to impose age-based limits and lifetime penalties on access to Medigap plans when the law takes effect in August 2026.

For older adults, the choice between original Medicare with a Medigap plan and Medicare Advantage can have lifelong consequences. Under current law, some Minnesotans who want or need to switch coverage later in life could face higher costs, fewer choices, or be denied coverage altogether,  simply because of their age or health status.

AARP believes Medicare choices should be based on what works best for an individual, not restricted by age discrimination or government-mandated penalties. This session, AARP Minnesota is urging lawmakers to repeal the 2025 changes and restore strong guaranteed issue protections, ensuring older Minnesotans can choose the Medicare coverage that best meets their health needs without facing age‑based barriers or penalties.

Stopping Fraud at Cryptocurrency ATMs

Fraud remains one of the biggest financial threats facing older Minnesotans, and cryptocurrency kiosks, often called crypto ATMs, have become a favored tool for scammers. These machines allow criminals to quickly convert cash into cryptocurrency, making stolen money nearly impossible to recover.

Minnesota took an important first step in 2024 by passing the state’s first crypto kiosk law. But scammers have adapted, exploiting loopholes in the law and continuing to target Minnesotans, especially adults age 60 and older — through tech support scams, government impersonation schemes, romance scams, and emergency fraud.

Law enforcement at the local, state, and federal levels has repeatedly warned that crypto kiosks are increasingly used to facilitate fraud and move illicit money. This session, AARP Minnesota supports strengthening consumer protections, closing gaps in current law, and putting commonsense safeguards in place to prevent fraud before it happens and protect Minnesotans from devastating financial losses.

Learn more about how these scams work and what to watch for in Stopping Crypto Kiosk Scams: What Minnesotans Need to Know Now.