In Thursday's op-ed section online at the Star Tribune, Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt waxes lyrical about his caucus's vow to fund programs for the aging in a contributed piece, Legislature 2015, GOP vision: Raising taxes amid surplus is illogical:
. . .During recent visits to Albert Lea and Apple Valley, I listened to Minnesotans’ concerns about caring for their aging loved ones. I learned that reforming the way our state pays for long-term care today could improve the quality of care and aging adults’ quality of life in the long run.
In response, our budget proposes to spend $138 million in new money for this long-term care reform, far more than the governor and Senate Democrats’ budgets have committed. . . .
That's lovely, and his words echo a message repeated across the state in letters-to-the-editor by long-term care facility managers. In fact, their words are so alike in these letters that we can say that they're of one text and one mind.
In the Alexandria Echo Press, for example, we read in Knute Nelson CEO Mark Anderson's letter, Senior care reform needs passage:
Thank you, Representative Mary Franson and Representative Paul Anderson, for your support of senior care reform this session. The current funding system for senior care services is broken and does not meet the needs of our seniors or the people who provide them with care.
The new system that Representative Mary Franson and Representative Paul Anderson have supported will ensure seniors have access to the quality care they deserve in their communities and their families. It will also provide long overdue funding to pay more livable wages and benefits for caregivers.
Sixty thousand Minnesotans will turn 65 this year and each year for the next 15 years. Our aging population is growing so quickly that it will eventually make up 25 percent of the state’s total population. This group of seniors is expected to live longer, and likely will require more care than any group of seniors in the state’s history.
Minnesota needs to get ready to ensure our seniors receive the care they deserve and their families expect from experienced caregivers.
With a $2 billion state surplus, now is the time to make seniors and caregivers a priority. Representative Mary Franson and Representative Paul Anderson supported a bill that addresses the realities of senior care today and in the future. A conference committee will soon make the final decision on this important reform proposal. I urge Representative Mary Franson and Representative Paul Anderson to do all that they can to positively influence the outcome of the conference committee and make this reform a reality.
Across the state in ABC Newspapers, which serve Anoka, Blaine and environs, we find that Mark Broman of the Camilia Rose Care Center writes in More support needed for senior care:
Thank you so much to the legislators from Anoka County, including Hoffman, Johnson, Petersen, Scott and Uglem for your support of senior care reform this session. The current funding system for senior care services is broken and does not meet the needs of our seniors or the people who provide them with care.
The new system that Hoffman, Johnson, Petersen, Scott and Uglem supported will ensure seniors have access to the quality care they deserve in their communities. It will also provide long-overdue funding to pay more livable wages and benefits for caregivers.
Sixty thousand Minnesotans will turn 65 this year and each year for the next 15 years. Our aging population is growing so quickly that it will eventually make up 225 percent of the state’s total population. This group of seniors is expected to live longer, and likely will require more can than any group of seniors in the state’s history.
Minnesota needs to get ready to ensure our seniors receive the care they deserve and their families expect from experienced caregivers.
With a $2 billion state surplus, now is the time to make seniors and caregivers a priority. Legislators Hoffman, Johnson, Petersen, Scott and Uglem supported a bill that addresses the realities of senior care today and in the future. A conference committee will soon make the final decision on this important reform proposal. I urge all legislators to do all that he/she can to positively influence the outcome of the conference committee and make this reform a reality.
We're not sure how DFL Senator Hoffman ended up in there, other than to reinforce what Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk and Richard Cohen claim in Legislature 2015, DFL vision: We'll use this opportunity to invest:
In contrast stand the Republican priorities: a budget built on a $1.07 billion cut in health care services for hospitals, workers and seniors, which eliminates affordable health insurance for 90,000 working Minnesotans, and an inadequate and unstable transportation plan that relies on shifts, gimmicks and confiscating money from current programs.
Closer to our Chippewa County home, Jim Flaherty of the Luther Haven in Montevideo is more succinct, while striking the same chord. In Make senior care a priority, Flaherty tells the editors of the Montevideo American-News:
Thank you Representative Tim Miller, District 17A for your support of Senior Care Reform this session.
The current funding system for senior care services is broken and does not meet the needs of our seniors or the people who provide them with care.
The new system that Representative Miller supported will ensure seniors have access to the quality care they deserve in their communities and their families. It will also provide long overdue funding to pay more livable wages and benefits for caregivers.
With a $2 billion state surplus, now is the time to make seniors and caregivers a priority. Representative Miller supported a bill that addresses the realities of senior care today and in the future. A conference committee will soon make the final decision on this important reform proposal. I urge Representative Miller to do all that he can to positively influence the outcome of the conference committee and make this reform a reality.
Thank you Representative Miller for supporting Senior Care Reform.
Two paragraphs from the other letters are missing in the Montevideo letter. We're sure happy that it's not totally a one-size-fits-all message for these folks, or they might end up with some of the same problems in persuasion that those seeking clean water and buffers now have encountered.
Photo: Postcard from Echo, Minnesota, the "messaging" center of the state.
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