Policymakers across the country are wondering what to do about rising health care costs and increased needs for aging services coming from the age wave. Ecumen CEO Kathryn Roberts discusses this in the article below, which appeared on the editorial page of yesterday’s Saint Paul Pioneer Press:
Deliver the Right Care in the Right Place at the Right Time
Minnesota spent $553 million on elder care last year. If the age wave and status quo continue on parallel tracks, we’ll soon hit unsustainable budgets and intergenerational conflict.
You get a flavor for that right now as state policy-makers do their biannual budget dance with the elephant in the room — aging services.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s budget proposal slices more than $130 million in aging services over the next eight years, most of it from nursing homes. The Senate would delay a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment to homecare employees, while the House would make no cuts and give nursing home workers a 2 percent pay increase. Even with a budget deficit, cuts to government-funded nursing homes aren’t the right tactic now.
Read the full article (posted on April 22nd) by visiting: http://www.ecumen.org/changing-aging/