Rx Kids fact check: No tax money for undocumented moms, no spending limits

Michigan Republicans scrutinize Rx Kids cash-for-moms program, which provides $1,500 to pregnant women and $500 per month after birth
Official says RxKids does offer payments to undocumented immigrants — but not using taxpayer funds
Program administrators do not directly monitor spending by recipients but use surveys to analyze

LANSING — Michigan’s first-in-the-nation cash assistance program for moms and babies is open to undocumented immigrants but uses philanthropic donations — not taxpayer dollars — to support those recipients, the head of Rx Kids told lawmakers Tuesday.

“No state funds go to undocumented immigrants — none,” Dr. Mona Hanna, a pediatrician and associate dean for public health at Michigan State University, said during a House Oversight Committee meeting.

House Republicans are increasingly scrutinizing the no-strings-attached assistance program, which lawmakers from both parties had agreed to send more than $300 million since the 2024 fiscal year.

Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, has decried Rx Kids as “a scam,” arguing the program incentivizes undocumented migrants to have children in Michigan for citizenship purposes.

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Rx Kids, which began in Flint and is now available in nearly 50 parts of the state, provides pregnant women with $1,500 during their pregnancy, starting at 16 weeks, and then $500 a month for up to 12 months after a baby is born.

Advocates say it’s working: Most participants use the money to buy baby supplies, food and utilities, Hanna said Tuesday.

The program is also preliminarily linked to decreased neonatal mortality, increased birth weights and a decline in NICU admissions, according to a study published this month in the Lancet Public Health journal.

“We’re seeing improvements in maternal mental health,” Hanna said. “Moms repeatedly saying ‘I can breathe,’ ‘I feel a weight’s been lifted off my shoulders,’ ‘I’m less stressed… I can be present’.”

Despite signing off on some of the $306.6 million in government funding awarded to the program, House Republicans in December abruptly ended a $14.6 million earmark for Rx Kids as part of broader “work project” cuts that shocked Democrats and various Michigan nonprofits.

In Tuesday’s hearing, House Republicans questioned how Rx Kids is tracking the money it gave out to new and expectant mothers and how it is working with partisan-aligned groups, among other things.

“The goal is permanent government help,” argued state Rep. Jason Woolford, R-Howell, who noted Michigan and the federal government already administer multiple assistance programs. “It’s out of control,” he said. “It’s not sustainable.”

Democrats defended Rx Kids, including state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky, who said she was embarrassed by the way Republicans spoke to Hanna and questioned whether mothers in the program — some of whom were in the room — were misspending money they received.

“I personally can’t imagine finally having trust in a government program, just to be told that you can’t be trusted with that program — particularly by people whose entire salaries are taxpayer-funded,” said Pohutsky, D-Livonia.

Here’s what Hanna had to say about Rx Kids when pressed Tuesday.

Can undocumented immigrants get benefits?

Hall, the state House Speaker, has emerged as one of the most vocal opponents of Rx Kids, arguing the program supports undocumented immigrant families instead of Michiganders legally residing in the state.

Hanna acknowledged the program is available to undocumented mothers but said only philanthropic dollars are used in those cases. The group has so far raised about $86 million from non-governmental sources, she told lawmakers.

Payments to mothers and babies who qualify for Medicaid come from federal funds with strict parameters, and state dollars from the Healthy Michigan program are used to support recipients with legal status, she said.

“We do not afford these dollars to anybody who does not submit the document identification, that does not confer legal status,” Hanna told lawmakers.

A graphic showing how each enrollment is funded. — Rx Kids says no taxpayer funds are used to support undocumented immigrant mothers. (Courtesy of Rx Kids)

Mothers can confirm their legal status by showing a driver’s license, state identification card, US birth certificate or passport, certificate of naturalization, certificate of US citizenship, military identification card, tribal identification card or concealed carry license, she added.

Still, some Republican lawmakers questioned the spending.

“There’s people that are in their 20s and above that are working two jobs, delivering food at night, and … this money that we talk about today, you’re taking from them and giving it to people — by your own admission, to illegal aliens,” said Woolford.

Can rich people apply?

The short answer? Yes. But it’s a voluntary program, and they do not need to apply, Hanna said, telling lawmakers Rx Kids was intentionally designed that way to mitigate disparities in pregnancy support.

“If we’re going to treat an entire community and treat those disparities, it is for everybody in those communities,” she said. “So yes. But, by and large, over 80% of every participant in this program makes less than $50,000 a year.”

Can moms spend the money on anything? Even drugs or personal expenses?

State Rep. Angela Rigas, R-Alto, questioned Hanna at length about the no-strings-attached nature of the program, which does not specify how mothers can use their cash assistance.

“How do you ensure that the funds are actually helping the babies? Or are these funds able to be spent on items such as alcohol, weed, flat screen TVs — those that actually don’t benefit the child?” Rigas asked.

Hanna acknowledged that mothers can spend the cash as they choose. The only way officials track spending is through self-assessments completed by participating mothers.

But that was by design, Hanna said, noting that tracking payments would make Rx Kids “a much more expensive program to administer.” Flexible spending allows parents to spend on specific needs — rather than being told by the state what they were able to use the funds on, she added.

State Rep. Angela Rigas. (Courtesy of Michigan House Republicans)

“This is a program built on trust: trusting women, trusting mothers, trusting families to best meet their needs,” Hanna said. “…This is how Social Security is – we’re not asking seniors who get Social Security what they’re spending.”

Rigas interjected: “That’s a little different. (Seniors) actually paid into it.”

Hanna pushed on, noting the data Rx Kids collected showed participants spend most of their assistance money on baby supplies, food and utilities and report better birth outcomes, reduced eviction rates and an ability to pay bills on time more regularly.

Because of surveys, “we know what families are spending the money on, but no, we do not do monitoring,” Hanna said. “If we did monitoring, it … would also send a really different message, telling families that no, we don’t trust you, we think government should be in your life and to monitor what you’re doing.”

Rigas replied: “I think that long-winded answer is yes: that parents could spend this, these funds, on alcohol and weed and TVs.”

What safeguards are in place for taxpayers?

The Rx Kids program is led by Michigan State University, and the institution requires “layers of audits and oversight,” Hanna told lawmakers. “This is what we do, we manage big grants.”

That includes an annual “single audit” to ensure MSU is complying with requirements of federal funding, including more than $36 million in federal funding Michigan has allocated through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

“Every invoice is reviewed multiple times at the department level, the college level, contract and grants level, and MSU accounting,” Hanna told lawmakers.

Rx Kids is required to file an annual demographic and funding source report with the state health department, and Hanna said MSU recently audited GiveDirectly, the New York-based firm that administers the cash transfers to recipients.

Mothers must first submit an application that indicates their identity, residency and pregnancy or childbirth, as verified by a medical provider. Medical documentation must include a woman’s name, that they are at least 16 weeks pregnant at time of application and their expected due date.

They must additionally sign an attestation document that the funds will not be used for any illegal or fraudulent purposes.

“Real people are viewing every single application,” Hanna said, noting that officials are looking for “any behavioral signals that would raise any concerns.”

Any concerning applications are flagged and reviewed, she said, with every application cross-referenced to ensure anyone with a history of drug trafficking or other illegal activities aren’t eligible for funding. If approved, Hanna said most mothers – about 80% of participants – opt for a direct deposit of $1,500 for prenatal care.

Officials with Rx Kids also later cross reference applications with state health department birth records to ensure when a live birth has occurred so that the $500 monthly payments can begin. “There’s no middleman,” Hanna added. “That’s part of the leanness of this operation.”

What if a mother has an abortion while benefitting from Rx Kids?

Another concern raised by GOP lawmakers: “Is there anything in the framework that prevents pregnant mothers from taking the money and then getting an abortion at 25 weeks?” Rep. Josh Schriver, R-Oxford, asked.

State Rep. Josh Schriver. (Courtesy of Michigan House Republicans)

Abortions that late in a pregnancy are rare, Hanna said. If it happens, a pregnant woman who got the $1,500 cash payment would not be eligible for the $500 monthly payments reserved for after birth, she said.

Hanna noted the state no longer tracks abortion data but said women in the program are less likely to get abortions because of the cash assistance.

“The number one reason that people have an abortion is because of finances, because it’s expensive to have a baby,” she said.

Pressed again by Schriver, Hanna said there was “nothing in the framework” that explicitly bars a woman from having an abortion after receiving a cash payment but said it’s “highly unlikely to have an abortion at that time.”

What does the research say about outcomes?

While research is preliminary, moms and babies benefitting from the program are having better health outcomes, Hanna said.

Having just completed a survey of 3,000 mothers benefitting from the Rx Kids program this past Friday, Hanna said 94% of families responding said they spent their money on baby supplies. The most commonly bought item was diapers.

Another 84% of respondents noted the funds were “helping them make ends meet,” Hanna said, with families using that money for rent and utility payments.

That, in turn, is alleviating mental stresses families feel during the first year of raising a child, she added, and has led to another positive outcome: A decrease in child abuse.

A May 2026 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics found that since the Rx Kids program first launched in January 2024, maltreatment investigations among Flint infants in their first six months of life declined from nearly 22% to just under 16%.

On top of that, Hanna said women utilizing Rx Kids were giving birth to healthier babies.

In participating communities, there was an 18% decrease in premature babies, a 27% decrease in low birth weight babies and a 29% decrease in admissions to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) according to a study published in this month’s Lancet Public Health journal.

“So, thank you to all of you, because we have healthier babies,” Hanna said. “That was always the goal.”