Senator and presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) last week announced A Plan for Seniors, a comprehensive plan that tackles Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, enhances health care and retirement security, reduces prescription drug prices, supports a world-class long-term care workforce, and combats senior fraud and abuse.  

Klobuchar is the first presidential candidate to highlight the workforce crisis in long-term care, and has proposed multiple solutions to address this challenge:

• Increasing wages
• Improving job conditions
• Promoting other recruitment and retention policies, especially in rural communities facing workforce challenges.
• Training for long-term care workers
• New loan forgiveness programs for in-demand occupations that includes long- term care workers

In addition, her plan tackles disparities in care with a focus on expanding access, reducing inequities and addressing the costs of long-term care services for people in the greatest need of assistance.

In terms of investing in long-term care, the Klobuchar plan creates a refundable tax credit to off-set long-term care costs and reduces the costs of and increases access to long-term care insurance. She also provides financial relief to caregivers and ensures paid family leave, including those who care for elderly or disabled relatives.

Klobuchar’s A Plan for Seniors also combats senior fraud and abuse. If elected president, she would open a new senior fraud prevention office to educate consumers, expedite the handling of complaints, and coordinate prevention efforts across the federal government within her first 100 days in office. In addition, her plan strengthens enforcement of age discrimination laws, strengthens oversight and accountability for court-appointed guardians, supports training for employees at long-term care facilities, and increases tracking of incidents and investigations to help prevent and better respond to elder abuse.

To read more, see Sen. Amy Klobuchar: A Plan for Seniors.