As two lifelong nurses and leaders in long-term care, hearing legislators say they won’t forget our seniors this session gives us reason to hope. But making sure elderly loved ones can access care when they need it requires more than words. We need financial support now.
For years, lawmakers have promised to care for our seniors yet fail to act when it matters most. As they kick off this session’s budget discussions, it’s time to ensure quality care for our seniors. With a historic budget surplus, state leaders must prioritize funding for long-term care in order to alleviate the devastating workforce crisis that they let linger for far too long.
Minnesota seniors and their families face an increasingly common struggle: accessing senior care options during a severe shortage of caregivers. Statewide, nearly 20,000 long-term caregiver positions remain open. Meanwhile, our senior population continues to grow with fewer options for care. In October of 2022 alone, Minnesota saw 11,000 admission denials. In cases like these, seniors are forced on long waiting lists or to seek care in communities far from their support systems.
Senior care is a vital component of our healthcare system. The senior caregiver shortage sends ripple effects throughout the healthcare system. Seniors ready for discharge after a hospital stay are stuck waiting for an opening in long-term care, causing Minnesotans to wait longer for elective surgeries or to struggle to find a hospital accepting new admissions. This crisis is not just problematic in select communities. This happens in every corner of the state. And it impacts every Minnesotan who needs care.
Workforce shortages may be common these days, but ours is uniquely driven by inadequate funding from the Minnesota Legislature and Gov. Tim Walz. Fifty-five percent of nursing home residents rely on Medical Assistance to pay for their care, and low-income seniors use Medicaid dollars for assisted living. For years, state funding has failed to cover the cost of care for both services. The culprit behind the shortage is a lack of commitment from our state leaders who have ignored this crisis for far too long. Our seniors should not be invisible. They have cared for us and paid their taxes over the years. And when they needed us the most, we ignored this vulnerable population.
Senior care providers are exhausting their options as they try to retain and attract caregivers. Our current funding levels limit the average starting wage for a senior care worker at less than $17 per hour, not nearly enough for the exhausting and important work we ask of them. Many senior care providers have increased wages over the past two years with no additional state reimbursement. They are burning through reserves and using credit lines to stay afloat.
Senior care providers are out of options to pay for the recent and future pay raises. To continue carrying this burden would be unsustainable and push them further to the brink. While they’re doing everything they can to keep their doors open, the state has seen a troubling amount of closures over the course of the last few years. The current system sets care settings up for financial instability, which only threatens access to senior care even more.
Legislative inaction cannot be an option this session
We cannot risk seniors’ well-being and limit their healthcare options. Minnesota has more than one million seniors. One in four Minnesotans will be age 65 or older by 2030, and someone turning 65 today has almost a 70% chance of needing long-term care services at some point in the coming years. At the same time, caregivers continue to find other healthcare jobs with better pay and less stress. The growing gap between aging adults seeking care and the number of long-term caregivers must be closed.
[image_caption]Barbara Klick[/image_caption]
[image_caption]Amanda Johnson[/image_caption]
Barbara Klick and Amanda Johnson serve as the board chairs of LeadingAge of Minnesota and Care Providers of Minnesota, respectively.
Senior citizens have made it clear that their priority is lowering taxes on social security income, not supporting long term care services.
My wife entered a nursing home in early 2022 and just our medical bills exceeded our annual income last year. While we no longer have to pay State or Federal taxes our real estate taxes where increased with an increased valuation on our home and a reduction in the Homestead Credit. With inflation, seniors on fixed incomes, need all the help they can get including support for long-term care centers. My wife had a serious stroke in March of 2000 and I was able to care for her at home for 22 years without any financial assistance. I am a combat, wounded veteran and am no longer able to care for Margaret at home and pray that she will receive good care from a well staffed nursing home. I respectfully ask for your support for funding assistance for our long-term care facilities. As a veteran I hear “Thank you for your service” so very often. I hope I will be able to say to you “Thank you for Your Support”.
Maybe senior citizens believe both are a priority. Why don’t we take the $600 million seniors pay annually in social security taxes and use it to fund long term care services.
Probably because we wouldn’t have $600 million going into the general fund to pay for everything the democrats want to spend it on. Someone has to pay for government waste.
That is a great suggestion. Skip the elimination of State taxes on Social Security and use it to fund long-term care facilities for seniors and other disabled citizens. That is just a great idea.
Cites please, showing that seniors have made clear their opinions for the State and Federal governments. The rankings that you provide of what concerns they rank the highest will be enlightening I’m sure.
Senior care is a problem from all angles, beginning with the fact that it’s very costly. Monthly premiums, for those who can think ahead in terms of insurance, are very steep. Medicare will pay for only a short stay and when that ends, any resources of the surviving partner or estate will be drained to depletion. At that point, state medical assistance must pay. And senior care facilities are a significant business, with high administrative costs comparable to those of hospitals. There have been scandals as well.
No easy solution here.
When the State limits the wages that care providers can pay, that seems like something that needs a solution.
Not to be cold, but this isn’t really a long term issue. Past that scary sounding “1-4 in 2030”, the burgeoning number of boomer seniors won’t be around anymore, and the lesser numbers of future generations will by and large be much more balanced in terms of caregivers per senior in need. Craft a stop-gap to hold the system over if you must, but don’t plan some long term strategy for a population that will be dying off in the very near term.
Article: “We cannot risk seniors’ well-being and limit their healthcare options. Minnesota has more than one million seniors. One in four Minnesotans will be age 65 or older by 2030, and someone turning 65 today has almost a 70% chance of needing long-term care services at some point in the coming years.”
Yes, how long does the “coming years” part last. How many of that 1 million will still be around in 2035, 2040? How big a plan do you want for a problem that might span maybe a decade or less.
“Medicare for All” is just another progressive health policy Republicans want to kill in the crib. Opposed to spending money on people they don’t particularly care about is called “conservative”, though there are more accurate descriptions for miserly policies for the old, the poor the sick and the disadvantaged. Equity does not appeal to Republicans’ austerity in government.
The Medicare “Advantage” ads are misleading older people into buying these private policies that are another attempt to privatize Medicare.
Caregivers are the real unsung heros. When your time comes to need a caregiver or to be needed to work in that role, that’s when any sentient human will change their stingy attitude.