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Minnesota LTC Task Force To Unveil $113 Plan

Wed, 12/13/2000 - 1:00am — Karen Stevenson
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Members of the Minnesota Long Term Care Task Force have agreed on a tentative plan to present to the Legislature when it convenes next month. The plan calls for more home-based and assisted-living care, such as apartment buildings with built-in nursing and social services, and efforts to attract more workers by upgrading jobs and raising wages.

The task force was formed in May 2000 to address the emerging issues in long-term care in Minnesota. The task force members included 12 legislators, six senators and six representatives, named by the leadership in the Senate and House, with bipartisan representation. Members also included three commissioners of state agencies most involved in long-term care issues: the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Health Finance Agency.

The task force is charged with drafting legislation needed to reform the long term care system in Minnesota, and they have agreed to consider legislation that would restructure the system that now depends on highly skilled nursing-home care to include more home-based and assisted-living care, provide better consumer information so older people and their loved ones can more easily make informed decisions, and address the worker shortage in a way that would attract qualified people to an upgraded profession.

Governor Jesse Ventura's budget goal is to hold overall spending increases to 5 percent, so the task force's $113 million plan wouldn't work without cutting other programs, although it does fit Ventura's vision for the state, because it encourages independent living and self-sufficiency. The $113 million plan would include:

* $91 million for cost-of-living wages for all long-term-care providers.
* $43 million for increased services for the elderly who otherwise would end up in nursing homes.
* $5.6 million to expand consumer information.
* $4.4 million to build up the market for long-term-care insurance.

The plan also would help nursing homes close or convert to other types of care, make respite care available for home caregivers on a sliding-fee scale, and make state regulations more flexible. The ideas contained in the plan were drawn from comments during meetings of dozens of older people and their families, nursing-home administrators and employees, and other public officials.

Members of the Minnesota Long Term Care Task Force have agreed on a tentative plan to present to the Legislature when it convenes next month. The plan calls for more home-based and assisted-living care, such as apartment buildings with built-in nursing and social services, and efforts to attract more workers by upgrading jobs and raising wages.

The task force was formed in May 2000 to address the emerging issues in long-term care in Minnesota. The task force members included 12 legislators, six senators and six representatives, named by the leadership in the Senate and House, with bipartisan representation. Members also included three commissioners of state agencies most involved in long-term care issues: the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Health Finance Agency.

The task force is charged with drafting legislation needed to reform the long term care system in Minnesota, and they have agreed to consider legislation that would restructure the system that now depends on highly skilled nursing-home care to include more home-based and assisted-living care, provide better consumer information so older people and their loved ones can more easily make informed decisions, and address the worker shortage in a way that would attract qualified people to an upgraded profession.

Governor Jesse Ventura's budget goal is to hold overall spending increases to 5 percent, so the task force's $113 million plan wouldn't work without cutting other programs, although it does fit Ventura's vision for the state, because it encourages independent living and self-sufficiency. The $113 million plan would include:

* $91 million for cost-of-living wages for all long-term-care providers.
* $43 million for increased services for the elderly who otherwise would end up in nursing homes.
* $5.6 million to expand consumer information.
* $4.4 million to build up the market for long-term-care insurance.

The plan also would help nursing homes close or convert to other types of care, make respite care available for home caregivers on a sliding-fee scale, and make state regulations more flexible. The ideas contained in the plan were drawn from comments during meetings of dozens of older people and their families, nursing-home administrators and employees, and other public officials.