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What is Harris’ “Medicare at Home” plan and how would it work?
Vice President Kamala Harris is proposing an expansion of Medicare to cover the costs of an in-home aide for many seniors, a direct pitch to the “sandwich generation” of adults caring for aging parents in addition to their own children.
The plan, dubbed “Medicare at Home,” focuses on having Medicare cover costs of home care services and nurses as a way for families to help avoid costs of nursing homes. Harris is pairing it with a plan she’s already announced that would expand the child care tax credit to up to $3,600, and $6,000 for parents with newborns.
Harris unveiled the plan in a Tuesday interview on “The View” talk show, where she talked about her own experience taking care of her mother while she had cancer.
She emphasized that her plan would be an expansion of Medicare, rather than Medicaid. This would enable it to coexist with private insurance. Medicaid also has certain stricter eligibility rules.
About a quarter of U.S. adults are part of the sandwich generation of those taking care of children and aging parents, according to census data. A Harris campaign official says its internal data shows this demographic of caregivers has a substantial number of undecided voters.
“In an election this close, proposals that speak to the financial security and health care needs of older Americans will resonate and can make a difference,” said Rich Fiesta, the executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, who has a PAC running anti-Trump advertisements.
A September AARP poll showed that 78% of women who are over 50 years old and care for older family members say they’ve been struggling financially. Another AARP poll in Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground state, showed former president Donald Trump with an edge among voters 50 and over: 53% for Trump and 44% for Harris.
Except for the poorest seniors, for whom Medicaid can pick up the tab, most older adults have to rely on their own savings or family members for home care when they can no longer handle all of their daily needs but aren’t ready to move to a long-term care facility.
“We increasingly encounter families that want to qualify for Medicaid today that aren’t considered the lowest income, but for whom providing and paying for long-term care is making them low income,” said Kevin Prindiville, executive director of the group Justice in Aging.
Democrats have accused Trump of supporting cuts to Medicare’s budget during his term in the White House, a charge that the Republican candidate has denied.
While he floated the idea in a March CNBC interview, saying, “There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements in terms of cutting,” he then suggested that these cuts would affect “the theft and the bad management of entitlements.”
He has since said he won’t “cut one penny” from Social Security or Medicare, and the Republican Party platform has similar language.
How much would “Medicare at home” cost?
Adding Medicare coverage for home care could start at $40 billion annually, according to an estimate from a Brookings Institution study cited by the campaign.
However, the authors of the study caution that their figure is only a starting point for a “very conservatively designed universal program.” The ultimate price tag could be significantly higher, depending on how generous Congress is willing to be.
“It’s not saying it’s the program we should adopt, but just that you could make this work for dollars that are not crazy,” said Jonathan Gruber, chairman of the economics department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a co-author of the estimate.
Gruber said the modeling also did not factor in major savings that the benefit could spur as ripple effects, like less money spent on nursing homes or family members who would be able to return to full-time jobs.
“We think we’re going to free potentially millions of informal care workers to go earn income in the labor market. And they’re going to pay taxes,” he said.
How would Harris pay for Medicare at home?
Harris said her expansion will be paid for mainly by expanding the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, combined with a list of other reforms, like increasing the discounts that drugmakers would have to offer for brand-name prescriptions.
This is not the first time that Harris has pledged to expand the Inflation Reduction Act’s policies targeting prescription drug prices. Medicare is currently on track to save only $31 billion each year from the negotiation program and other drug price provisions, which would fall short of covering even the starting price tag for her proposal.
Harris has called on Congress to broaden the drug negotiation program, accelerating the pace of new price caps set by Medicare and making more drugs subject to the limits. More aggressive drug price negotiations could save hundreds of billions over the next decade, according to a Stanford University white paper cited by the campaign, assuming it’s able to survive an uphill battle on Capitol Hill.
Marc Cohen is the co-director of a center focused on long-term services and support backed by LeadingAge, the association of nonprofit providers of aging services. LeadingAge has called for adding home care to Medicare for years, as a fix to the “dangerously broken” system.
“At some point we will need to talk about a source, like Medicare itself, to pay for it. But I think that’s a very clever idea right now for getting this going. And then what you do is develop a constituency of political support, even for the young generation to say, ‘I want this to be available for my parents,'” Cohen, a professor of gerontology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, said.
Who would be covered by Harris’ Medicare at Home” proposal?
All Medicare enrollees deemed to be “unable to independently perform activities of daily living like bathing, eating and going to the bathroom” would be eligible after being screened by physicians or nurses, according to the campaign’s proposal. People with “serious cognitive impairment” would also be covered.
Not everyone would get all their costs paid for by Medicare. Seniors with higher incomes would have to pay a larger share of the cost out of their own pockets.
The details of that coverage are a big factor that could also impact the cost of the plan, affecting how many Americans end up taking advantage of the proposed benefit.
Only home care aides “designated by Medicare” would be covered under the proposal, which would include “any qualified home health aides, personal care attendants, or direct care workers recognized by their state.”
The campaign did not address whether family members would be able to be paid with cash for taking care of an older relative, as a previous bill by House Democrats had proposed.
Prindiville said that was among the things they were hoping for in the details of the proposal, as lawmakers try to “strike the right balance” to make home care more affordable.
“When families want to provide that care, let’s pay them for it so that economically it makes sense,” said Prindiville.
As Florida and the Southeast recover from two major hurricanes, conspiracy theories and falsehoods have surged to levels that the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency says are unprecedented. First responders, local officials and nonprofit organizations in the storm zones have had to dedicate time and resources to debunking false claims.
Officials say these falsehoods have real-world consequences, including preventing victims from evacuating or seeking help, distracting from recovery efforts and making the job of aid workers harder.
And while the scale of misinformation following Helene and Milton took some by surprise, the claims themselves follow a familiar pattern. Similar misinformation has followed other hurricanes and natural disasters, including exaggerated crime reports, fake or misleading visuals and outright scams. Researchers say understanding the misinformation is crucial to mitigating its spread and minimizing its impact.
Here is a look at some of the recurring themes to watch out for:
Unverified crime scares
In the aftermath of Helene, rumors spread online that people were slashing tires of trucks transporting aid to storm victims, a claim that local police said is not true.
Unverified crimes reports have followed storms for decades. After Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of Louisiana in 2005, officials later said claims of looting, murder, and rape, which were repeated by some news media and officials, were either exaggerated or false.
At one point, the Mayor of New Orleans reported multiple murders at the Louisiana Superdome, where thousands sheltered. The National Guard later said there were no homicides at the stadium.
A 2018 report by the Department of Homeland Security found that false claims often spread after disasters because verified information is slow to emerge, fuelling rumor and speculation.
Conspiracies
Jennie King, director of Climate Disinformation Research and Policy at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, said conspiracies blaming the government for hurricanes have also become routine. Researchers at the institute found this claim and others debunked by FEMA generated more than 160 million views online after Helene.
“If it is producing a visceral emotion, negative or positive, that should cause you to pause for breath,” King said. “Do a little bit of wider reading. And if you do find out that those claims are false or unsubstantiated, don’t give them additional oxygen.”
Fake or misleading photos or videos
Edited or misleading videos and images have become a regular feature of major weather events. As Hurricane Dorian approached Florida in 2019, old images circulated online that pushed false claims of looting.
After Sandy hit New York and New Jersey in 2013, researchers identified over 10,000 unique posts on Twitter, now called X, that contained fake images.
One of these images was the now-famous “street shark” — an edited image of a shark swimming along a highway — which has reappeared during multiple hurricanes since at least 2011.
Fact checkers also regularly debunk images and videos of landmarks and transportation hubs submerged in water, which can mislead the public during natural disasters.
A digitally altered image of planes under flood waters, created by an artist in an effort to warn about the potential impact of climate change, was falsely described as showing the effects of hurricanes in 2017 and 2018.
And after Hurricane Milton hit Florida, AI-generated images appearing to show flooding at Disney World spread online on multiple platforms.
AI tools have made it easier for people to publish misleading or completely fabricated visuals, according to Anupam Joshi, who co-authored a study on misleading visuals after Hurricane Sandy.
“You need to take everything you see online with a very healthy grain of salt,” said Joshi, the director of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Cybersecurity Institute.
Scams
Scammers often target victims of hurricanes and those wishing to help them. After Hurricane Katrina, scammers impersonated charities including the Red Cross, which was one of the reasons the U.S. Department of Justice established the National Center for Disaster Fraud.
Jun Zhuang, a researcher who studied misinformation online following Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, told CBS News that scammers solicit money from victims through fraudulent links.
“‘Hey, if you register to this link, you will get $200.’ Or the other way around, ‘Hey, please donate through this link,’ but you never know where your money is going to,” said Zhuang.
Historically, bad actors also target storm victims with offers of assistance. After Hurricane Sandy, fake “contractors” claimed that FEMA would reimburse survivors for damage assessments and rapid repairs to their homes. One of these scammers defrauded 30 people of about $1.9 million.
To avoid falling victim to scams, FEMA has advised people to be wary of unsolicited messages and to verify charities before donating.
Boeing on Friday said it’s cutting 10% of its workforce, or about 17,000 employees.
In a in a memo Friday, CEO Kelly Ortberg announced the layoffs, writing that the aerospace giant must make “tough decisions” to stay competitive. Ortberg added that the company is also delaying its program to develop the 777X airplane and halting production of the 767 aircraft after it delivers the remaining 767 planes that have been ordered by customers.
The layoffs and production changes come amid a labor dispute at Boeing, with 33,000 machinists going on strike last month after failing to agree on a contract. The aerospace giant’s finances and reputation have also taken a hit this year due to manufacturing problems and multiple federal investigations, following a mid-air panel blowout in January.
“Our business is in a difficult position, and it is hard to overstate the challenges we face together,” said Ortberg in the memo. “Beyond navigating our current environment, restoring our company requires tough decisions and we will have to make structural changes to ensure we can stay competitive and deliver for our customers over the long term.”
Ortberg, the former head of aerospace company Rockwell Collins, joined Boeing as CEO in August, replacing outgoing CEO Dave Calhoun in the wake of increased regulatory scrutiny sparked by production problems at the storied company.
In his Friday memo, Ortberg said the layoffs will include executives, managers and employees, and take place within the “coming months.”
Washington — Former President Donald Trump’s campaign requested military assets to enhance his security in the final weeks of the campaign in the wake of threats to his life, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
In emails to the White House and the Secret Service late last week, the Trump campaign requested that a military aircraft be used to transport the former president before the election, according to the sources. The request also included expanded flight restrictions over Trump’s residences and campaign rallies, as well as the use of ballistic glass — a security measure the former president is already receiving.
The Washington Post first reported the requests Friday.
The development follows two assassination attempts against Trump since July. He was also the target of an alleged murder-for-hire plot involving a Pakistani national with ties to Iran. The country holds the former president and his administration officials responsible for a drone strike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
President Biden seemed receptive to the enhanced campaign security measures on Friday, telling reporters he “told the department to give him every, every single thing he needs.”
“As long as he doesn’t ask for F-15s,” Mr. Biden said at the White House.
He said the Republican presidential nominee should be treated as if “he were a sitting president.”
“If it fits within that category, that’s fine,” he added. “But if it doesn’t, he shouldn’t.”
The enhanced security is a break from precedent. No presidential nominee or former president in recent history has been transported by military plane before an election.
After the second assassination attempt against Trump, Mr. Biden signed a bipartisan bill that bolsters the Secret Service protection for major presidential and vice presidential candidates. The bill requires Secret Service to apply the same standards in determining the number of agents needed to protect the president, vice president and the major candidates for those offices.
In a statement to CBS News, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said Trump “is receiving the highest levels of protection.”
“Assistance from the Department of Defense is regularly provided for the former President’s protection, to include explosive ordnance disposal, canine units, and airlift transportation,” he said. “Other enhancements the Secret Service has is providing includes Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) over the former President’s residence and when he travels. Additionally, the former President is receiving the highest level of technical security assets which include unmanned aerial vehicles, counter unmanned aerial surveillance systems, ballistics and other advanced technology systems.”
Guglielmi said the Secret Service will “continue to adjust and enhance its protective posture as needed to mitigate evolving threats.”
contributed to this report.
