Over the past year, there has been a lot of talk about how nursing homes and continuing care facilities need more funding. It appears that talk fell on deaf ears from the Democrats in charge of the Minnesota House and Senate.
Sen. Tarryl Clark, second in command of the Minnesota Senate DFL Caucus, was asked to respond to a proposal that would use money from the Health Care Access Fund to give nursing home and continuing care workers a long-overdue funding increase. Clark responded that nursing homes "don't really count" in the Democrats' definition of health care.
This is simply not true.
Since the start of the legislative session, the Democrats have been consistent in their support for only using the health care access fund for health care. The fund has a near $300 million surplus. We should certainly be able to find some dollars in this fund for those who take care of our senior citizens and vulnerable residents. Unfortunately, it appears off limits to the thousands of nursing home and continuing care workers in Minnesota because Sen. Clark and her fellow Democrats don't consider them part of the health care system.
Nursing homes and long-care facilities were short-changed during the 2007 legislative session. The Democrats ignored the basic needs of nursing home and long-term care workers last year when the state had a $2.2 billion surplus in favor of welfare expansions, and it looks like they will do so again this year.
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House Republicans know nursing home and continuing care workers are a critical part of our world-class health care system. We proposed increases and tried to amend bills to provide COLA increases. We will not give up. We know nursing homes and continuing care facilities need our help and they need it now, with or without the support from the Democrats in charge of the Minnesota House and Senate.
