Klobuchar makes play for 'silver surge' with long-term care plans

CONCORD, N.H. — Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar visited an assisted living facility in Concord, New Hampshire on Saturday morning for a roundtable discussion on policy priorities for senior citizens. 

The visit came a week after Klobuchar released a detailed plan to improve long-term care for seniors with chronic conditions, paid for by closing the so-called trust fund loophole for inherited wealth. The plan would also invest in Alzheimer's research at the National Institute of Health, allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and lift the Social Security payroll cap from $133,000 to $250,000 to extend the solvency of the program.

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar arrived to a small but packed room of senior citizens at the Granite Ledges assisted living facility on the outskirts of Concord, New Hampshire.

Local Congresswoman Annie Kuster appeared with Klobuchar at the event and Ken Berlin, chairman of the State Committee on Aging, credited the Minnesota Senator for being "the only candidate I've heard of that's even doing this."

The detailed plan and roundtable discussion, which followed a similar event in Des Moines, Iowa on July 15, indicated that, while many of her Democratic rivals are vying for the youth vote with proposals for tuition-free college and student debt relief, Klobuchar is counting upon the support of seniors in the early contests.

Gary Patton, co-chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party senior caucus, underlined a likely rationale for the strategy midway through the discussion. "We are the old reliables," he said. "We are the ones who come out to vote. We are the highest voting age group of any group."

Patton, who told the audience "the reason I'm here is to increase your self-esteem," defended the role of seniors in the economy, something that Klobuchar called "one of my favorite things" from the conversation in her closing remarks. "We are not killing the economy," Patton said.

He added that retirees from across the country are moving to New Hampshire for its tax-friendly environment. "They come in because they know that New Hampshire has no income tax, no sales tax, no tax on your pension," he said. "It is a good place to live. They are not welfare cases when they come in. Many of them are very wealthy."

Klobuchar laughed that she herself has recently changed the way she talks about seniors. "I used to call it the silver tsunami but then I was told by a seniors group that that was too menacing, so I call it the silver surge," she said.

In her ten minutes of speaking time at the beginning of the discussion, Klobuchar described long-term care as "the elephant in the room" and laid out her plan for long-term care insurance and tax credits. "For me, this is personal," she said, telling the audience that her father, 91, has Alzheimer's and has benefitted from memory care.

Klobuchar sat next to hometown New Hampshire Congresswoman Annie Kuster for a wide-ranging discussion that included representatives from the State Committee on Aging, the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Brian Mehlman, a "soon-to-be senior with two seniors parents" from Nashua, said he was going to read the plan when he returned home. He liked Klobuchar's "more pragmatic approach than some of the other folks" and said he "just yesterday had a conversation with my parents" about assisted living.

Mehlman, a 30-year resident of New Hampshire and former high-tech industry employee, has attended many primary events over the years, including several house parties with then-candidate Barack Obama during the early days of the 2008 campaign. He said "you see a different view" of the candidates in person and noted that Klobuchar looked "completely stressed" when other panelists exceeded their allotted speaking time. "I would have held my visual cues," he laughed.

While Klobuchar and Kuster, the local congresswoman, spoke for the longest periods of time, the panel touched on a wide variety of issues, from early detection of Alzheimer's to transportation and hospice services.

Klobuchar also acknowledged that many seniors want to keep working part-time and contributing to their communities after retirement. "I personally enjoy having seniors in the workplace," she said, sharing that she hired the retired president of the National Farmers Union, David Frederickson, as her Agricultural Outreach Director during her first term in the Senate. "What I loved about having him in the workplace was all the young people," she said, who would come to their elder colleague "not just for career advice, but for romantic advice."

Frederickson, who later served as Minnesota Agricultural Commissioner from 2011-2019, was just shy of 65 years old when he was hired by Klobuchar in 2007. Frederickson, now 75, is younger than Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Klobuchar, 59, is hoping that Frederickson and others of his generation spurn Sanders and especially Biden, her fellow moderate, for a candidate that spotlights their issues.

This work is made possible by the Russell H. Bostert Memorial Fellowship at Williams College.