Mayo Pete’s plan provides for a $90 a day long term care benefit and sir....... how much do you think health care actually costs https://twitter.com/PeteButtigieg/status/1198936655438188544

He also says he wants to raise the minimum wage to $15 (which is a good start, at this point!) which would help direct service workers... but $90 buys only 6 hours of care (and nothing else!!) at that rate.

6 hours maximum (if you’re only paying for non medical care, such as help with activities of daily living) per day, times 7 days, is only 42 hours of care a week. This might sound like a lot to nondisabled ppl, but again, it doesn’t go very far!

It’s not uncommon for disabled folx who use personal attendant care services (what some might call “unskilled care”- assistance eating, dressing, bathing, etc, to require and receive over 40 or 50 hours per week of this type of care.

This doesn’t include overtime; while many PCA users have multiple PCAs who work a couple hours a week, some PCA users have live in PCAs who work enough hours to be overtime eligible.

Add in visiting nurse services, which get reimbursed at a higher rate, and that $90 a day goes even faster.

So $90 doesn’t go very far for someone who needs long term care and wants to live in the community (which is their right!!) But $90 does make a financial difference if someone is receiving long term care in an institution, and that money is used to offset lower Medicaid rates.

Some might say “well great! They’re still getting care in a nursing facility or institution, right?” NOT GREAT. Disabled ppl who can live in the community are legally entitled to do so and receive care and supports out of an institutional setting.

If YOU, as an adult, have the choice to live in a nursing facility or in the community, which are you going to choose?

Pete’s plan, like many other “moderate” approaches to long term care provision, underfunds long term care, making it unaffordable and thus much harder for individuals with disabilities to receive community-based services- services they are legally entitled to.

Underfunding community based care makes direct service jobs unsustainable, and places the burden of care on family members (and not everyone has family who can help, or wants family to help!! Do you want your mom dressing YOU for the rest of your life?)

Is providing community based care more expensive in many cases! Yes!! But again, community based care is a legal right for people with disabilities, and even if it weren’t, providing it is the right thing to do.

Many candidates have started to talk the talk about community based care. This is an improvement over ignoring disabled people, for sure!! But they also need to walk the walk, I.e. fund community based options at a sustainable rate.

In conclusion, can we tax rich people already