To the Editor:

When the new Minnesota House majority created the Aging and Long Term Care Policy Committee in December, it served as a signal to Minnesotans that the needs of our elderly and those who care for them and the disabled would become a top priority at the State Capitol.

I serve on the Aging and Long-Term Care Committee, and several recently approved committee bills will positively impact both of these groups.

Very simply, with these bills we are trying to find ways to allow senior citizens to keep more of their money and give our nursing homes and other long-term care facilities additional resources.

The Long Term Care Rate Reform bill would reform the current nursing home payment system and change the way Minnesota pays for services for older adults. Doing so would preserve nursing home access, ensure quality, promote efficiency, and invest in those providing senior care.

Without reform, we will continue to tie the hands of long-term care facilities. Our current payment system has been disastrous to them because it has left them incapable of providing competitive salaries to their employees, which in turn has led to a shortage of needed caregivers.

The committee also is supportive of a plan that would provide a 5 percent rate increase to nursing homes and facilities that work with the developmentally disabled.

Finally, the committee has approved the Retire in Minnesota Act, which would phase out the Minnesota tax on Social Security income by 10 percent per year for 10 years, after which it would be gone altogether. Doing so would provide $400 million per year in tax relief to Minnesota residents who could truly use it. Minnesota is one of only seven states that taxes Social security income.

I know seniors who spend one month’s Social Security check on groceries and the next month’s check on medicine. 383,000 people are financially impacted by Minnesota’s choice to tax Social Security, and I believe it’s time to let them keep more of their income.

State Rep. Bob Gunther,

R-Fairmont