Do you know how you would pay for Alzheimer's care or other chronic care needs? Most Minnesotans have no idea how they'll pay for supportive services to help with tasks most of us take for granted in our daily life, such as eating, bathing, or dressing. Nor do they have a plan for more intensive, continual care.
In fact a majority of Minnesotans (52 percent) say have no plan for how they'll pay for supportive services. This according to a new poll conducted by The Long-Term Care Imperative (LTCI), a collaboration of Aging Services of Minnesota and Care Providers of Minnesota, which are membership associations of senior service organizations across the state. As you look at the infographic below, one other thing to consider: In 1965, when Medicaid was created (the federal-state program that pays for most long-term care costs after people spend into poverty) Alzheimer's Disease was a phrase largely isolated to medical journals. Today 100,000 Minnesotans live with it. Absent a cure, by 2050, nearly a quarter million Minnesotans will have it at a cost of $20 billion according to the Preparing Minnesota for Alzheimer's Report, prepared for the Minnesota State Legislature by the Minnesota Board on Aging.
It's time for Minnesota to develop new ways for people to get the right services, at the right time, in the right place, rather than having to rely on a wing and prayer or impoverishing oneself.
