If we're lucky enough, we all grow old and will need care. But the US doesn't like to think about aging or disability, so we have almost literally no system to help people afford the care they need. thenation.com/article/societ…
To many people’s surprise, Medicare doesn’t cover nursing home or assisted living stays, and rarely covers in-home care. Medicaid does, but you have to be poor to get it. There’s private long-term care insurance, but without pooling the risk it’s extremely expensive.
A lot of people end up like Brandon Will, who in his 30s has put his entire life and career on hold to move home to care for his mother, who has Parkinson’s. She has Medicare and some retirement money but it doesn’t cover the in-home care they both need. 
We can change this. Washington has invested in the home care workforce to make sure there’s more available and will soon be the first state to create a social insurance program to cover in-home care. Hawaii has created non-Medicaid funds to help anyone afford the care they need.
We need a social insurance program that covers care—be it in a nursing home, from a home health aide, or from a family member—for everyone. That also requires rethinking old age and disability as a collective problem—and an opportunity to help people live their full lives.
The pandemic showed us that we are horrifically negligent when it comes to caring for older Americans. Now's our chance to think bigger and better. thenation.com/article/societ…
My article about eldercare is part of a special Nation magazine issue on utopias. Give the whole thing a read!
https://twitter.com/ChrisBurkeShay/status/1416016793034973192
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