How Harris’ new caregiving proposal can help Wisconsinites with aging parents, young kids

Days after Kamala Harris proposed a plan requiring Medicare to cover the cost of in-home care for seniors, a group of care workers and beneficiaries sat down to discuss the plan with Maya Harris and U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore in Milwaukee. 

Vice President Kamala Harris has released a plan that would expand Medicare coverage to include long-term and in-home health care for seniors. Medicare does not currently cover long-term in-home care, a gap in coverage that often pushes the burden of care on to family members. 

The move was immediately applauded by many with first-hand experience.

Maya Harris, the Vice President’s sister, led the discussion saying, “this is personal,” referring to the care she and Kamala provided for their mother following a cancer diagnosis.

“That really changed our lives forever, in such fundamental ways.” 

The burden of care comes with a cost too. 

“It costs half a trillion to a trillion dollars per year – a modest estimate,” said US Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee), in “unpaid and uncompensated care to keep people and their loved ones at home” every year. 

When at-home care is not an option, Lisa Gordon, a certified nursing assistant in a long term care facility, said, “I see what happens to family members when they have to put their loved ones in long term care.”

“They have to spend down all of their savings and sell their home to pay for long term care.” 

Compounding the financial stress families face when placing a loved one in a care facility, Gordon said removing someone from a home they’ve been in for much of their life can also lead to worse patient outcomes. 

Harris’s proposal for senior home care isn’t in a silo however. It goes hand in hand with her earlier proposals related to what’s being called the Care Economy: Harris wants to restore the $3,600 child tax credit that was made available to parents through the American Rescue Plan and add a new, $6,000 tax cut for families of newborn children to support families. 

For families, “the difference that that money makes is the opportunity to be able to have something to eat on their tables, their parents having the ability to pay their rent,” said state Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee).

It also means being able to afford childcare. As a former early childhood educator, Johnson said she often saw parents bringing their sick children to her daycare, hoping their kids could stay at daycare long enough so that the parents could go to work and finish a shift.

“For many in Milwaukee, they don’t have paid time off,” said Johnson. “Missing work meant they couldn’t pay the electricity bill or rent. Parents shouldn’t have to choose between caring for their sick children and paying their rent.”

Alexis Hamilton, a mother of four children, said she’s worked in the healthcare industry for 18 years and is part of the “sandwich generation,” the estimated 54 million adults who are caring for a senior parent and children at the same time.

“My mom turned 65 this year and she’s one that we would like for her to stay at home,” Hamilton said. “It’s hard for me and my siblings to take off work to care for her.”

Between child care and parental care, Hamilton shared that she and her sister go so far as to coordinate their work schedules to ensure they have care coverage. “It’s a lot, but we’re trying to make it work. Make ends meet.”

Overall, those gathered to discuss Harris’ plans expressed optimism and gratitude for the added attention her campaign is putting on the care economy because as Maya Harris said, “Caregiving is the work that makes all other work possible.”