Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday unveiled a new plan to offer a Medicare benefit to help pay for at-home, long-term care for senior citizens and people with disabilities. In announcing the plan on ABC’s daytime talk show The View, Harris said the plan could ease the caregiving burdens of the so-called “sandwich generation“—which constitutes nearly a quarter of Americans overall—as well as help people avoid the exorbitant costs of nursing homes and assisted living.
“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, especially if they work,” Harris said. “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.” According to the Harris campaign, more than 67 million people are covered by Medicare and about 4 million enroll annually; 105 million Americans act as caregivers for loved ones.
If realized, Harris’s could be particularly revolutionary for women, who research has repeatedly shown take on the bulk of caregiving duties at home. A report published by the Commonwealth Fund earlier this year, for example, found that in 2020, women made up more than 60 percent of caregivers to an adult or child with disabilities; That report also found that 26 percent of American women said they acted as a caregiver to a family member, compared with 22 percent of American men.
Harris did not provide specifics or an estimated cost for the plan. But speaking on The View, Harris said the plan would be financed by allowing Medicare “to continue to negotiate drug prices against these big pharmaceutical companies,” meaning that money saved from the Biden administration’s landmark deal would go toward funding senior care. A senior campaign official said the plan would also be financed by increasing discounts drug manufacturers cover for certain brand-name drugs in Medicare, cracking down on hidden costs from pharmacy benefit managers, and other measures. A recent analysis from the nonpartisan Brookings Institution found that such a plan would cost an estimated $40 billion a year.
On the campaign trail, Harris has spoken about taking care of her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, after she was diagnosed with cancer (she died in 2009), a point the vice president repeated during her appearance on The View.
“I know caregiving is about dignity,” Harris said on Tuesday.
Vice Pres. Kamala Harris explains her proposal for Medicare to cover in-home health care for seniors: “It’s about independence for that individual.” pic.twitter.com/09Lkz9DXQl
— The View (@TheView) October 8, 2024
The appearance is part of a weeklong media blitz for Harris, which started with a 60 Minutes interview that aired on CBS Monday night as well as an appearance on the podcast Call Her Daddy. The Democratic presidential nominee will also appear on The Howard Stern Show and The Late Show with Steven Colbert.
The contrast with her opponent is stark: Trump, on the other hand, bailed on his 60 Minutes invite and ranted about Harris’s interview on Truth Social. Oh, and he has repeatedly discussed cutting Medicare, which Project 2025—the extremist guidebook to a second Trump term—also recommends.
Update: This post was updated with statistics about the role American women play in caregiving.
