The editorial folks over at the St. Paul Pioneer Press wanted to see where the rising dollars of government health care are being spent in Minnesota, so they went and talked with folks at the Departments of Human Services and Management & Budget. (Governor Tim Pawlenty cited a 21 percent increase in state spending on health care as a major driver in Minnesota’s $5.28 billion budget…

Following is an excerpt from a Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial yesterday on long-term care financing …While poor children, their parents or pregnant women make up the majority of Medicaid enrollees, two-thirds of the Medicaid budget is spent on the elderly and disabled. One-third of the program’s total spending goes toward long-term care, which is why reform here could yield…

Ecumen’s CEO Kathryn Roberts and Jan Malcolm, CEO of

There are a lot of people busy within Ecumen in shaping new senior housing options and services. We want to share with you some new development and service news from around Ecumen:

Thank you to Ecumen colleague Anna Cole-Kost at Ecumen’s Parmly LifePointes community who contributed this reflection on the gift of growing old. It was sent to her from a friend who has discovered new things in old age:Old Age, I decided, is a gift.I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometimes despair over my body, the…