John,
As Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, I’ve been working hard to protect and expand Medicare. So I was thrilled to see Kamala Harris speak so passionately on The View about her plan to expand Medicare to cover in-home care for seniors:
This issue is deeply personal for so many families across the country. Kamala’s plan is game-changing for the “sandwich generation” who are caring for both their aging parents and their children.
Years ago, when I first introduced the most comprehensive Medicare For All bill in the House, my legislation was the first to include coverage for long-term care. It was a crisis then and it remains a crisis now.
Today, almost 700,000 Americans are on a waiting list to qualify for home and community based care. A recent investigation by the New York Times found nearly three million older Americans who need long-term help are not receiving it, in large part because of the high costs of assisted living facilities, nursing homes and aides at home. COVID both exacerbated and highlighted the tremendous financial, emotional, and physical burdens for millions of American families to care for their loved ones.
All of us know what it’s like to watch a family member age, and families everywhere are struggling to figure out how to afford care for their loved ones. That’s where Kamala’s new policy announcement comes in.
It’s not just that assisted living centers are prohibitively expensive. As Kamala said, this is about dignity for the person who needs care. Many times seniors would prefer to stay in their own homes and remain as independent as they can, and we need to help make that a realistic option for as many of them as possible.
Plus, making the wealthy and Big Pharma help pay for this investment is exactly what we need to do. We’ve already allowed Medicare to negotiate some drug prices, and it’s time to open it up to even more so that taxpayers aren’t getting gouged by multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical companies that post record profits year after year.
But John, in order for any of this to happen, we need to make sure Kamala Harris is sworn in as president next January. My campaign is teaming up with the Harris-Walz campaign to conduct virtual phone banks in swing states across the country, and we need your support to keep up this critical outreach work.
Together,
Pramila Jayapal
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