Biden Administration Highlights Plans for Homecare Investments

WASHINGTON—A White House fact sheet highlighted the Biden-Harris Administration’s plans for building on the progress of investments in homecare and long-term care.

The fact sheet was posted on April 9 in regards to Care Workers Recognition Month, and touched on the progress the administration said it has made to “make care more affordable for American families, support family caregivers, boost compensation and job quality for care workers and expand care options.”

Biden was joined by care workers and unions as he discussed out how he built on that progress with investments in child care, homecare, paid family and medical leave, tax cuts for workers and families and other priorities.

Points from the fact sheet focused on cost of care and long-term care are below:

The Need to Improve Care

Too many families and individuals struggle to access the affordable, high-quality care they need. The cost of child care is up 26% in the last decade and more than 200% over the past 30 years. For older adults and people with disabilities, long-term care costs are up 40% over the past decade. As a result, the cost of care is out of reach for many Americans. At the same time, care workers—who are disproportionately women of color—struggle to make ends meet, even as they care for others. Due to the low pay and the demanding nature of care work, turnover rates are high. In addition, at least 53 million Americans serve as family caregivers—including over 5 million caring for service members or veterans—and many face challenges due to the lack of support, training, and respite.

The President’s Plan to Lower Costs for Families for Care

Biden has made child care, long-term care, family caregiving and paid leave a core part of his domestic and economic agendas. He has referenced these issues in each of his State of the Union Addresses, and proposed transformative investments in each budget. Biden’s most recent budget proposes the following:

Long-term Care and Family Caregiving

Biden said he is committed to protecting older adults’ and people with disabilities’ health and dignity. His plan would invest in expanding Medicaid home and community-based services to help a larger number of older adults and people with disabilities receive care in their home or community, and promote better opportunities for homecare workers and family caregivers. There has been substantial growth amongst the younger population under 65 with disabilities living in nursing homes. The percentage of individuals younger than 65 living in residential nursing facilities grew from 10.6 in 2000 to 16.2 in 2017. Biden said his investments will help ensure that they can receive care in their own homes and communities. Biden also proposed substantial investments for family caregivers serving our nation’s heroes, including stipends and support services for family caregivers of eligible veterans.

The Biden-Harris Administration’s Historic Actions on Care

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris said they have been committed to improving the quality of and access to care while supporting care workers and family caregivers. The President’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) delivered $37 billion across all 50 states for activities and investments that enhance, expand and strengthen home and community-based services and $145 million to help the National Family Caregiver Support Program deliver counseling, training and short-term relief to family and other informal care providers. In April 2023, Biden signed an Executive Order on Increasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers (Care EO) surrounded by people with disabilities, family caregivers, long-term care workers, early educators, veterans and aging advocates. Over the past year, agencies have made substantial progress implementing the Care EO. For example:  

• HHS, through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, proposed rules to ensure that homecare workers get a bigger share of Medicaid payments; and establish minimum staffing standards in nursing homes receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding.
• The Department of Veterans Affairs launched a pilot program, known as the Virtual Psychotherapy Program for Caregivers, to provide mental health counseling services to family caregivers caring for our nation’s heroes. The program successfully completed its pilot phase and is now a permanent program. Since October 2023, the program has provided over 4,937 psychotherapy sessions to family caregivers.