Director of PEDAL lab, Norma B. Coe recently contributed to the Hill in an opinion piece urging for bolder, more comprehensive long-term care reform. In her op-ed, she highlights how current insurance and provider systems will not meet the needs of the U.S’s aging population. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, Coe illustrates, long-term care has fallen to the responsibility of women, forced to leave the workforce in droves to care for their children and parents alike. This “informal” care system is far from costless, rather having significant health and economic consequences on these female caretakers. Whilst Biden’s plan for older Americans provides 12 months of paid family leave to caregivers along with a new $5,000 tax credit, Coe argues this is not enough to get us out of the pandemic-related recession. Instead, it is time to push for bold reform that recognizes the burden we have been placing on families, and shift some of that responsibility towards the government.
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