Kamala Harris to use her appearance on The View to pitch to the ‘sandwich generation’
Vice President Kamala Harris is about to propose the first-ever expansion of Medicare to help Americans known as the so-called “sandwich generation,” who face the staggering burden of caring for children and aging parents at the same time .
It is the latest in a series of economic proposals from the Democratic presidential candidate as she makes a bid for the White House in an extremely close race with former President Donald Trump.
The vice president makes her pitch to the “sandwich generation” on Tuesday during an appearance on The View, a show with an audience composed largely of middle-aged and older women.
The proposal includes the first-ever expansion of Medicare to include home care benefits to help address long-term care for seniors.
The vice president wants to cover home care services such as home health aides, so seniors don’t have to choose between having to go to a facility for care as they age or burdening their families.
Vice President Kamala Harris will visit New York on October 7. Harris will propose the first-ever expansion of Medicare to cover home health benefits in a pitch to the so-called “sandwich generation” that cares for aging parents and children. same time as seniors
The campaign believes this move would make care more affordable while easing the financial and emotional toll on families tasked with caring for loved ones as the number of seniors in the U.S. grows.
Currently, Medicare does not cover long-term assistance, such as home health aides, except under limited circumstances. The staggering out-of-pocket costs make such options virtually impossible for many Medicare recipients, leaving them with few options outside their families or significant financial burdens.
The vice president will call for the benefit to be paid by expanding negotiations over Medicare drug prices, cracking down on Hidden Pharmacy Benefit Manager fees and other measures, the campaign said.
About forty-seven percent of adults between the ages of forty and fifty have a parent over sixty-five who also raise or support an adult child. One in seven adults provides financial support to both children and elderly parents.
Vice President Harris will call for expanding Medicare to include home health care services. The proposal would be paid for by a number of measures, including expanding Medicare drug price negotiations
The latest proposal comes after Harris already pitched expanding the child tax credit in an effort to ease child care costs for families and give parents a $6,000 credit for a new baby’s first year of life.
But the vice president’s proposals would face significant challenges in passing a divided Congress. Changes to Medicare have been fiercely opposed for years.
Efforts by the Biden administration to extend the child tax credit beyond a year in the American Rescue Plan passed in 2021 were blocked, even though Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress at the time.
If Republicans manage to flip the Senate in November and retain the House of Representatives, passage of her legislative agenda could become all but impossible, even if Harris were to win the presidency with Congress in control of the finances.
Harris has faced criticism for how she would pay for a range of economic proposals, ranging from expanding the small business tax deduction to providing $25,000 down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers.
When Harris was questioned on 60 Minutes on Monday about paying for her proposals, she talked about the wealthy paying their fair share.
“I’m going to make sure that the wealthiest among us who can afford it pay our fair share of taxes. It is not right that teachers, nurses and firefighters pay a higher tax rate than billionaires and the largest corporations. And I intend to make that fair,” she said.
“But we’re dealing with the real world here,” correspondent Bill Whitaker pushed back, asking her how she would get it approved by Congress.
“You know, if you talk calmly to a lot of people in Congress, they know exactly what I’m talking about, because their constituents know exactly what I’m talking about. Their constituents are the firefighters, teachers and nurses,” Harris replies.
To cover the costs, the vice president has proposed a series of tax changes targeting big corporations and the wealthiest Americans, arguing that they should pay their “fair share.”