State facing many challenges in funding senior services
The Montana Office of Aging in a recent strategic plan warns readers of “the tsunami of elderly coming.” One might take a cautionary note in reviewing the plan and from the latest biennium budget for the Senior Long Care Division (SLTC), all a part of Montana Health and Human Services.
Currently, Montana’s elderly population is about 17 percent and is projected to rise to 28.5 percent or 342,295 Montana’s by the 2025, including 11 counties within the report identified as “The Montana Frontier,” with better than 40 percent aged population.
In the latest biennium the budget for SLTC totaled about $611 million with approximately $400 million of that being picked up by the federal government. SLTC pays for vital senior services including 6,600 potential beds in nursing homes, home health care for those able to remain in their homes, meals on wheels, a portion of a patients expenses within the Montana Veterans Homes, and administration and staffing of Senior Protective Services.
A key component of the aforementioned strategic plan is to enable the maximum number of ageing citizens to remain in their homes or within community assisted living centers.
In other words, there is a concerted effort to offer a degree of independent living as a means of economy that also meets the wishes of our elder citizens. Too often nursing homes are not pleasant places and the placement of loved one into such a facility is often a difficult decision to make.
The issues facing future legislatures will manifest in budgetary challenges along with the ability of private and public agencies and facilities to find a skilled workforce in the field of geriatric services. This is not a very exciting part of government, where political expediency and hot topics such as job creation in the high-tech marketplace (I’m all for it!), captures headlines and aspirations. If the increase in the aging portion of our population outpaces the addition to our work force as the projections indicate, we face a formidable task in paying for and finding appropriate labor.
We hear of legislators pledging not to raise taxes but we don’t hear of many legislators pledging such a declaratory notice stating that services to our vulnerable equates to a sacred social contract with senior citizens and shall not be broken.
These are some of my thoughts I contemplated when considering the commitment necessary to declare, “I support our senior citizen services” within the context of a legislative platform.
— Dave Fern, of Whitefish, is a Democratic candidate for House District 5