John Marty's Agenda for Minnesota's Future: Senior Citizens

Vision

John Marty knows that Minnesota's senior citizens want to be independent and productive members of society. But in order to live with dignity they must have access to quality health care =98 including long term care, feel safe in their communities, have adequate financial security, a fair tax system based on their ability to pay, and safe, affordable housing and transportation.

Record

• Co-authored a single-payer health care plan for Minnesota.
• Authored the 4 percent solution to increase fairness in the tax system for people on fixed incomes.
• Author of numerous initiatives to prevent crime before it occurs as well as initiatives which protect people by increasing sentences for violent criminals.

John Marty's Agenda for Minnesota's Seniors

As Governor, John would:

1. Create a single-payer health care system for Minnesota. John Marty believes that nobody, especially an older person living on a fixed income, should have to decide between necessary medical care and buying food. Only a single-payer system of health care reform meets all the following requirements:
   • Affordable and universal, allowing all seniors to be covered without having to worry about private Medigap insurance premiums, co-payments and deductibles.
   • Comprehensive benefits, including prescription drug coverage, community-based long term care, strong consumer protection for nursing home residents, and preventive health care, including physicals and dental, chiropractic and optometric care.
   • Cost containment to eliminate all forms of waste including insurance company overhead, excessive paperwork, inflated drug prices and unnecessary services.
   • Preserve choice by putting consumers and medical professionals in charge of deciding what health care is best and allowing consumers to choose their health care provider.
2. Ensure access to quality long term care by expanding the availability of a wide range of community-based care options and ensuring strong consumer protection for nursing home residents. Community-based care should include adult day care, CHORE services, home delivered meals, foster care and respite care.
3. Ensure seniors receive quality housing and transportation services. As Governor, John would:
   • Develop a range of housing options, such as congregate housing and assisted living, that preserve independence.
   • Ensure social support services go with housing, such as CHORE services, home delivered meals and other services necessary to enhance independence.
   • Ensure that Metro Mobility is safe, timely, affordable and responsive to the rider. The current system is unreliable and absolutely unacceptable. John would turn control of the program over to a board which is representative of Metro Mobility riders.
   • Make paratransit accessible and affordable in all communities, including suburban and rural areas for seniors who are unable to drive. Public transit provides the lifeline to family, friends and community services.
4. Create a tax system that is fair and progressive by shifting funding for social services and schools away from regressive property taxes to progressive income taxes based on one=90s ability to pay. This will provide property tax relief so seniors on fixed incomes are not taxed out of their homes, while assuring those with the highest incomes pay their fair share.
5. Make our communities safer by preventing crimes before they occur. Seniors need to feel safe in their homes and on the streets. John has authored successful legislation to increase sentences for violent criminals, but recognizes this does nothing to protect us from those who are never caught and, more importantly, does nothing to prevent people from becoming dangerous in the first place. Policies and programs that emphasize prevention of crime and early intervention with troubled youth are cost-effective methods of reducing crime and increasing personal and community safety. As Governor, John would:
   • Address the alcohol, drug dependency and mental health needs of children. Many juveniles in trouble with the law have either one or a combination of these problems. Pilot programs instituted in California have reduced repeat criminal offenses by over 50% by treating mental health and chemical dependency problems.
   • Increase the number of police officers available for community policing.
   • Take guns away from all people convicted of felonies and violent crimes and ban the sale of assault rifles. While gun control laws will not eliminate crime completely, they are an important part of our response to crime. Reasonable gun laws will not interfere with the rights of hunters.
   • Ensure victims' rights and require offenders to provide restitution to their victims. Through restitution and community service, offenders must begin to repay their victims and society for the harm they have done.
   • Institute restorative justice including mediation to require offenders, especially juvenile offenders, to come face-to-face with the human impact of their actions and to repay society with community service and restitution.

Prepared by Minnesotans for Marty, 2161 University Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55114 Telephone/Fax: (612)644-5775/644-4131

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