Last night a very energizing, provocative discussion on the future of aging was held with about 50 members of Mill City Commons in Minneapolis, a cool neighborhood for a lifetime. 

Moderated by Ecumen CEO Kathryn Roberts, panelists included: Marcia Townley, chair of the Mill City Commons Board of Directors; Peter Hutchinson, president of the Bush Foundation; Rep. Paul Thissen, minority leader in the Minnesota House of Representatives; and Stacy Becker, who oversees aging financing work for the Citizens League.

A few of the many golden nuggets heard last night:

We have to tackle chronic care and stop putting acute care and sub-acute care in separate buckets. . . if we don’t, there will be no money for anything.

I know an orthopedic doctor who treats an obese 40-year-old.  But his practice doesn’t want him to talk to that patient about "prevention" and weight loss . . . it’s only about the joint replacement. . . . the procedure . . . not prevention.

What legacy do boomers want?  How will they become part of the solution in an aging world? 

Everyone talks about the boomers.  But the generation before the boomers – those who did a lot of major lifting on major issues such as civil rights – are changing aging.  They’re the ones who have innovated, creating communities such as Mill City Commons.

A panelist’s brother died at a a leading hospital in Minnesota, and it cost $51,000 because they didn’t know he had an advanced directive. 

We have to think about dying now.  It should be a patriotic duty to have a living will

Cities need to be part of changing aging with updated zoning laws.  In many cities you can’t have 4 people living together under one roof who aren’t related.  But that’s exactly what four people might want to do to age in place and stay out of a nursing home.

We have to change public policy for long-term care financing. We have to change the incentives.   It would have very positive long-term impacts on the state budget and on people’s lives. 

Think about this:  Right now in Minnesota a spouse can be working making $250,000 per year, her spouse can go into a nursing home and qualify for Medicaid.  The nursing home cost is totally covered by the state, with no contribution from the spouse making $250,000 per year.