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State Representative Joe Atkins
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4192
For more information contact: Christina Gosack 651-296-5524
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2020 Conference Offers Proposal to Help Seniors Live at Home
The 2020 Conference, a bipartisan group of over two-dozen lawmakers from the Minnesota House and Senate, has proposed that the state take a new approach to long-term care that allows more people to stay in their homes.
"Most older Minnesotans want to live at home as long as they can," said Rep. Joe Atkins, a founding member of the 2020 group. "If we can help them get quality care at home and save the state money, it's a win-win situation."
Members of the 2020 Conference emphasized that now is the time to prepare for the coming demographic shift in our state's population. With the aging baby boom generation, by the year 2020 Minnesota will have more residents over age 65 than under age 17. The long-term care needs of an aging population will likely play an increasingly important role in state and federal budgets.
"We can't afford to bury our heads in the sand and pretend these changes are not on the horizon," said Rep. Atkins. "With the right planning and innovation Minnesota can be a national leader in helping our population age with independence and dignity."
Modeled after widely lauded legislation in Vermont, the 2020 group's proposal would enable greater use of current state funding for home and community-based caregiving of those in need of long-term care. Under Vermont's Choices for Care program, Medicaid-eligible seniors who need extra care have the choice of being cared for at home by a family member, friend, or neighbor who gets paid by the state.
One year after the program's start, Vermont officials say if is reducing the number of people sent to nursing homes, cutting the cost of taxpayer-funded care, bringing family members together and improving life quality while giving people a choice as to where they want to live.
Rep. Atkins and State Senator Geoff Michel (R-Edina) co-founded the 2020 Conference in 2004 with help from the Citizen’s League, a non-partisan organization.
"The 2020 Conference has a mission to start Minnesota down the road of bipartisan solutions to long-term public policy problems," Sen. Michel said.
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