ST. PAUL — State Rep. Mark Anderson, R-Lake Shore , said the Minnesota House majority’s plan to cut $26 million from senior living in the upcoming biennium would be damaging to nursing homes throughout the state.
The cut is part of HF 1233, which the House addressed on the House floor Monday.
"This budget cut would be detrimental to the long-term care Minnesotans receive," Anderson said. "It astonishes me the Democrat majority is planning to raise our taxes by $2.6 billion and pile hundreds of millions of dollars in fees on top of that, yet they fail to adequately support our elderly citizens. Long-term care should be of utmost priority, but it appears as if our senior citizens are being pushed aside so Democrats can waste more money on government programs."
Anderson said nursing homes have been forced to do more with less for years, and now the Democrats' budget cuts will jeopardize 115 senior living facilities, 15,000 long-term care workers and countless rural communities.
"The sad reality is a number of our nursing homes already are struggling to remain open and they cannot afford to be dealt a cut," Anderson said. "The majority needs to take a long, hard look at how misplaced its priorities are."
Anderson said he is continuing to work with Democrat legislators to prioritize nursing home funding as this bill and other budget components make their way through the Legislature. He is among a coalition of legislators from Greater Minnesota who support a 5-percent funding increase for nursing homes, senior care homes and group homes. They conducted a news conference Monday, calling attention to this issue.
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