Legislative candidates talk nursing home wages, facility needs

Sept. 28--MANKATO -- Nursing home employees need more money. Care facilities need more money to renovate or replace aging facilities. Telemedicine will do wonders to help senior health in Greater Minnesota.

Area legislative candidates can agree on all of these things. They differed, however, on how to go about solving the state's upcoming senior care crises during a forum at Laurel's Peak Rehabilitation Center Tuesday night.

Rep. Clark Johnson, DFL-Northfield, and Rep. Jack Considine, DFL-Mankato, joined Mankato Democrat Nick Frentz, North Mankato Republicans Kim Spears and Willa Dailey, and Mankato Republican Adam Isakson in a discussion over the future of senior care in Minnesota.

Isakson is challenging Considine for the District 19B seat, Spears is running against Johnson in District 19A, and Frentz and Dailey are running against Libertarian Shane Wernsing to replace retiring Sen. Kathy Sheran, DFL-Mankato, to represent District 19.

Though they come from different parties, all candidates could agree something needs to be done to bolster wages for nursing home and senior care staff throughout the state.

"There's a tremendous need for staffing in this area, and there's absolutely no excuse to lose skilled nursing staff from these facilities to fast food places because of that issue," Dailey said.

During the 2016 legislative session, Considine was an outspoken proponent of raising wages for caregivers or direct support professionals who work with the elderly and disabled.

Various caregiver organizations have banded together over the past few years to persuade lawmakers to raise their wages, which average $9 to $11 per hour, by 5 percent or more. Considine supports this campaign but wants to push lawmakers for a higher increase.

"As God is my witness, (lawmakers) will hear from me every single day on the legislative floor until we raise these peoples' salaries," Considine said. "It is deplorable, it is unacceptable and I am embarrassed by it."

Families are also seeking financial help to ensure they can keep their loved ones taken care of. Candidates agreed there were ways to reform community care programs and public programs such as Elderly Care, though not everyone agreed on how best to reform those initiatives.

Considine would like to see the state move toward a single-payer healthcare system, similar to other countries, where the public would be covered under a single organization for all their healthcare needs. Spears disagreed and drew upon his experiences in the United Kingdom to point out such a system may not work in the United States. He instead pushed for tax exemptions for families dealing with long-term care situations.

Spears and Isakson agreed with Dailey, who believes Minnesota should shift its medical-related funding away from inefficient programs toward more solutions for families.

"We don't have a money problem, we have a distribution problem," she said.

Frentz believes tax breaks for families dealing with in-home care could also help pay for care in the long run.

"Targeted tax breaks are a good idea in a surplus," he said.

Johnson advocated a big-picture look at senior services. He argued the state could do nothing without agreeing to a balanced budget and specifically dedicating funding streams to solve senior care issues.

"Then it becomes a question of political will," Johnson said.

Lawmakers will face mounting pressure to address senior services in the next few years. The U.S. Census Bureau and the Minnesota State Demographic Center estimate more than 600,000 people across the state will turn 65 or older over the next two decades.

That also means Minnesota will need thousands of caregivers over the same period of time. Caregiver organizations estimate the state is short an estimated 8,700 caregivers as of late 2015.

"We need to address this now," Isakson said.

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