January, 2009
January 19, 2009| Posted in Articles, Health Care, In the News, News Media
WELCOME TEAMWORK ON LONG-TERM CARE
Jill Burcum, Star Tribune, January 19, 2009
A shout-out goes to the bipartisan team of Rep. Laura Brod, R-New Prague, and Rep. Paul Thissen, D-Minneapolis, for jumping on a pioneering idea from Nebraska: state-sponsored long-term care savings plans.
Last summer, Nebraska Treasurer Shane Osborn flew to the Twin Cities and pitched his state’s unique savings plans at an event sponsored by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, Citizens League, 2020 Conference and Ecumen. The long-term care accounts work a lot like the well-known tax-advantaged 529 college savings plans that many people already have. State income tax deductions — up to $2,000 for couples filing jointly in Nebraska — provide an incentive to save for nursing home care, assisted living or home health services that family members may need down the road. Brod and Thissen plan to introduce legislation that would allow Minnesotans to open up this type of account.
Most people will need long-term care at some point. Yet relatively few people have long-term care insurance and far too many rely on Medicare to pick up the bills.
Unfortunately, the federal health plan for seniors usually doesn’t cover these costs. A lifetime of savings can evaporate quickly with the annual bill for a year of nursing home care in a shared room averaging $49,000. Once personal assets are gone, the state/federal Medicaid program for the poor usually pays the bill for long-term care. Minnesota was expected to spend $1.4 billion on Medicaid long-term care for the elderly in 2008. The long-term care bill for all 50 states is expected to more than double to $115 billion by 2027.
The proposed long-term care savings accounts certainly aren’t a silver bullet. In this economy, many people are focused just on paying monthly bills, much less putting money aside for an unglamorous expense down the road. Still, creative small-scale solutions like these savings plans will help by spurring some people to act. Publicity about the savings plans will also raise awareness about long-term care costs and who pays the bill. Brod and Thissen’s plan is timely and their teamwork is especially welcome. Hopefully, it’s a harbinger of future political collaboration ahead as the state and nation grapple with the massive fixes needed by the health care system.
January 16, 2009| Posted in Articles, Current Issue - Frontpage, Health Care, In the News, News Media, Paul's Viewpoint
Paul Thissen, Bemidji Pioneer, January 16, 2009
A question I am hearing more and more these days: “I have just lost my job and my health care coverage. What am I going to do?”
It’s not a surprising question since tens of thousands of Minnesotans are living with that reality today. It is a reality that takes a tremendous toll on families. Cost-effective, preventive care is often delayed or skipped all together; visits for injury or illness may be put off until more costly emergency care or hospitalization is required.
A lack of health insurance may compound the challenge of finding a new job when chronic conditions go untreated. And being uninsured only exacerbates the other economic pressures that result in bankruptcy for many families facing unemployment.
The one option that is currently available to most laid-off workers, continuation of health coverage, otherwise known as COBRA, is simply too expensive for most families. Qualified individuals are required to pay 102 percent of both the employer’s and employee’s share of the cost of the policy.
The cost of COBRA premiums is more than $1,000 per month on average for family coverage, simply unaffordable when unemployment benefits average about $324 a week. As a result of this high cost, only 20 percent of those individuals who qualify for COBRA actually buy it, leaving 80 percent of the newly unemployed uninsured. That is unacceptable.
The Minnesota Legislature needs to provide a clear, meaningful and immediate answer to the many Minnesotans asking “What am I going to do?” Fortunately, we have one.
Despite our state’s deep budget woes, our MinnesotaCare fund currently has a surplus balance of dedicated health care dollars. The Legislature should act quickly to allow Minnesotans who are approved for unemployment benefits to automatically enroll in MinnesotaCare.
A person would remain covered as long as they continue to receive unemployment benefits and pay the low-cost premiums. Moreover, this unique program would sunset in two years, after the current economic crisis has passed. Using dedicated health care money to help Minnesotans in this time of economic crisis is the right thing to do.
Admittedly, this is a short-term solution. We must continue to move forward on more fundamental, broad-ranging reform of our health care system. But right now there is a need for immediate relief. The legislature can and should deliver it.
Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, is a member of the Minnesota House and chairman of the House Health Care and Human Services Policy and Oversight Committee.
January 14, 2009| Posted in Articles, Health Care, In the News, News Media, Uncategorized
WE SAVE TAX FREE FOR COLLEGE — WHY NOT FOR LONG TERM CARE?
Jeremy Olson, Pioneer Press, January 14, 2009
Minnesota lawmakers want to create a savings plan that allows families to set aside money for long-term care needs just as they would use 529 education accounts for their children’s college tuition.
The goal is to entice families with tax-free savings to take more responsibility for long-term care and reduce the crushing cost burden on the state.
Many seniors exhaust their savings to pay for nursing homes and other services, and then obtain state Medical Assistance benefits to continue their care. Minnesota spends $1.5 billion each year on long-term care, according to recent estimates, and is projected to spend $3 billion by 2020 once baby boomers reach retirement age and have care needs of their own.
While it is cruel to “force people to spend into poverty” to get access to care services, the state must encourage them to save more on their own, said Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis.
“Our savings rate in this state and this country is way too low,” Thissen said. “We need to flip the switch on that one.”
Thissen and Rep. Laura Brod, R-New Prague, discussed the savings plan Tuesday during an aging policy forum at the Wilder Center in St. Paul. They plan to unveil the plan today at the Capitol and introduce legislation in the coming weeks.
Nebraska was the first state in 2006 to offer this type of plan. Minnesota would likely be the second.
“People realize the cost of long-term care and how crippling it can be,” said Nebraska Treasurer Shane
Osborn. “It can wipe out a lifetime of savings in a matter of a year.”
Nebraska allows plan enrollees to spend earnings tax-free on nursing homes, assisted living, home care services, long-term care insurance policies and many other needs.
“You could use it to widen the door in your bathroom if you need wheelchair access,” Osborn said.
The plan also offers $2,000 household tax deductions, although lawmakers this year might raise that amount to $5,000 in order to increase interest.
Osborn said enrollment had been slow in the first year, partly because of a delay in banks offering the plan on behalf of the state. The plan offers only state tax advantages for now, no federal tax breaks.
Osborn said he hopes more states adopt similar plans, increasing interest in Nebraska and perhaps encouraging federal lawmakers to support tax incentives as well. He presented the idea to Minnesota leaders in August and has talked with officials in California, New York, Indiana and other states.
Advocates for the aged expect little progress in long-term care reform this session as Minnesota lawmakers confront a billion-dollar budget deficit. However, they said the savings plan has a chance to pass, given its bipartisan support.
Housing provider Ecumen has found through surveys that few people have long-term care insurance or even understand how aging care services are financed.
“We know two things,” said Ecumen’s Eric Schubert, “people don’t want to live in nursing homes, and a lot of people haven’t accumulated the savings for how they would most like to live.”
Brod said the savings plan is one incentive for people “to do what they ought to be doing anyway” and a first step in addressing the aging crisis that will hit Minnesota in little more than a decade.
“While 2009 and 2010 are interesting and important,” Brod said, “2020 and 2030 are vital.”
| Posted in Articles, Health Care, In the News, News Media
UNEMPLOYED MAY SEE SUBSIDIZED HEALTH CARE
TIM PUGMIRE, MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO, JANUARY 14, 2009
Minnesotans who have lost a job could more easily sign up for state-subsidized health care under a bill introduced in the Minnesota House.
The measure would provide temporary six-month eligibility to MinnesotaCare for anyone receiving unemployment compensation.
It would also waive a four-month waiting period for coverage.
Rep. Paul Thissen, D-Minneapolis, said the loss of a job often means the loss of health insurance. He said most families cannot afford to continue their coverage or end up spending too much of their unemployment check to hang onto health insurance.
“We all know that when people don’t have insurance they forego necessary prevention care. They often get sicker. Their chronic conditions deteriorate, which is one of our leading cost drivers. And we as a society are left in a much worse position than we would be if people had access to affordable health care,” Thissen said.
The House Health and Human Services Committee heard testimony on the bill Tuesday but did not take a vote.
Thissen said his bill needs more work before it is ready for a vote.
| Posted in Articles, Health Care, In the News, News Media
TAX BREAK WOULD SPUR SAVINGS FOR LONG-TERM CARE
John Croman , KARE 11 News, January 14, 2009
Two Minnesota lawmakers, one a Republican and one a Democrat, have teamed up on a proposed tax break for those who save ahead for long-term care.
The plan, offered by DFLer Paul Thissen of Minneapolis and Republican Laura Brod of New Prague, would be patterned after the tax-deferred college savings plans known as 529’s.
“This legislation is really designed to have an eye to the future,” Representative Brod told reporters Wednesday at the Capitol, “It’s really designed to change the mindset of how people view their responsibility for their own needs for their family’s needs, and in a positive and proactive way.”
Thissen said it an attempt to move beyond the standard model of “forcing people to spend themselves into poverty” before becoming entirely dependent on Medicaid.
“We do need to have a safety net but what’s equally important is we need people to start thinking and planning ahead and saving for their own retirement,” Representative Thissen said, “Thinking long-term about that because that really ultimately is the solution.”
Brod said any taxpayer could put up to $2,000 a year singly, or $4,000 jointly, into the long-term savings account and be allowed a state income tax deduction.
The holders of those accounts could also pass unused money to an heir.
“It’s not just long-term care in terms of nursing homes,” Brod said, “We’ve got to broaden the definition of long-term care; we’re talking about long-term care in the community, personal care, whatever somebody needs on a long-term basis.”
Nebraska is the only state in the nation so far to adopt such a savings plan for long-term care.
Thissen guessed that resistance may come from those who don’t want the state to surrender any tax revenues at time of tight budgets.
In the long-run, however, such savings accounts could help the state contain one of the fastest growing segments of government spending.
“Over time our Medicaid spending for long-term care is going to be unsustainable,” Thissen said, “And this is a way we can start to tilt that curve down and I think that will be the fundamental discussion we have around this.”
Senator Geoff Michel, an Edina Republican, is offering to carry the measure in the Senate.
“The federal government has reported nearly 70 percent of us will need long-term care in some time in our lives, and it does not come cheap,” Senator Michel asserted, “In Minnesota it’s nearly $50,000 a year.” “The old saying is there are only two guarantees in life, death and taxes,” he added, “And I think now in the 21st century we’ve added a third, death, taxes and long-term care.”
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