Vice President Harris on Tuesday introduced a new plan to expand Medicare benefits so that the program covers the costs of long-term home care for older Americans.
The plan, formally announced on ABC’s “The View,” is aimed at helping the “sandwich generation” take care of their aging parents. According to Pew Research, nearly a quarter of all American adults fall into that category — needing to take care of their parents while also still raising their own children.
“There are so many people in our country who are right in the middle. They’re taking care of their kids, and they’re taking care of their aging parents, and it’s just almost impossible to do it all,” Harris said. “Especially if they work. We’re finding that so many are then having to leave their job, which means losing a source of income, not to mention the emotional stress.”
Under the plan, Medicare will cover home care for the first time ever for all of our nation’s seniors and those with disabilities on Medicare who need it, in addition to vision and hearing benefits to help seniors live independently for longer.
It would need congressional action to be put into effect and would likely face long odds of becoming law with Republicans in control of Congress.
But such a plan could offer significant financial relief to families. It’s part of a series of Harris health proposals, such as eliminating medical debt and capping prescription drug costs, that’s broadly popular and easy for voters to understand.
The Harris campaign sees caregiving as a mobilizing issue for female voters, especially older women concerned about their own financial security, a senior campaign official told reporters ahead of the announcement.
According to AARP data, 34 percent of older women in Michigan identify as family caregivers, compared to 30 percent of older voters overall. In Georgia, 37 percent of older women identify as family caregivers, compared to 34 percent of older voters overall.
Seventy-six percent of likely voters 50-plus in Pennsylvania said they would be more likely to support a candidate who provides support for family caregivers who are helping their loved ones live independently in their homes.
Millions of Americans struggle to find affordable home-based care for themselves or their family members, and many wind up taking on the responsibility themselves.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 14 percent of the adult population provides some form of unpaid eldercare. About 59 percent of those caretakers are women.
Medicare does not cover long-term services and assistance, like home health aides, except under very narrow circumstances, such as if a person is recovering from an acute medical condition. Private insurance doesn’t cover those services either, leaving families to pay out of pocket.
The Harris campaign noted the average cost of a full-time home care aide is almost double the income of the typical Medicare beneficiary, and the problem will only get worse as our population ages.
The Department of Health and Human Services estimated that an average American turning 65 will incur $120,900 in future long-term services and support costs, with families paying for over one-third of that themselves.
According to the nonpartisan health research group KFF, a round-the-clock professional live-in home health aide can cost more than $288,000 a year.
Medicaid is the largest payer of long-term services, but it’s only an option for people with low incomes. Even for qualifying beneficiaries, there’s often an extremely long waitlist for home care providers.
The lack of options often leaves people with no choice but to rely on a family member.
Harris has talked about being a caregiver in the final years of her mother Shyamala’s life following a cancer diagnosis. She brought up the experience again on “The View.”
“It’s just about helping an aging parent, or person, prepare a meal, put their sweater on. And it’s about dignity for that individual, it’s about independence for that individual,” she said. “People are of declining skills to some extent, but their dignity, their pride has not declined.”
Harris’s campaign did not release a detailed spending breakdown, but an estimate by the Brookings Institute, a centrist think tank, estimated a similar plan would cost $40 billion a year.
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Democrats tried to create a new home care program under the “Build Back Better” domestic policy legislation that became the Inflation Reduction Act, but it was cut due to spending concerns.
Harris said her plan would be paid for using savings from Medicare’s drug price negotiations.
“We are going to save Medicare the money, because we’re not going to be paying these high prices,” she said. “Those resources are best then put in a way that helps a family.”