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Please follow my new Facebook page ? Representative Marj Fogelman! Click?here?to follow.
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Hello from St. Paul,
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As nursing homes statewide continue to close due to legislative inaction, I am calling on House Democrats to address this crisis head-on.
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Too many nursing homes are closing and nearly all of those that remain in Minnesota are operating at limited capacity. With our $17 billion surplus we could very easily end this crisis, but our House Democrat majority would rather spend money on their pet projects.
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The COVID pandemic, inflation and increased operating costs, wage challenges, and a workforce shortage that is estimated at 20,000 have all contributed to the nursing home crisis.
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Since 2020, almost 2,600 nursing home beds have been taken out of service, which equates to more than 50 nursing homes that would have a 50-bed capacity. During that time, 15 nursing homes have also closed permanently.
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The number of Minnesotans who are over the age of 65 now totals more than 1.3 billion. This is leading to a need for more skilled nursing home care, but nursing homes aren?t able to keep up. In October alone, 11,000 senior citizens were turned away from long-term care settings.
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In response, House Democrats have proposed sending $3.9 million in new revenue to nursing homes over the next two years.
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This is not a serious attempt to end this crisis, especially when you consider we have a $17 billion budget surplus. If the Democrats have the money to waste on a $194 million high-speed train to Duluth, then they should be able to prioritize our nursing homes and ensure that Minnesota?s senior citizens will have the care they need.
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Have a good weekend,
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Marj
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