After one of the closest and most hotly contested campaigns in modern history, President-Elect Joe Biden addressed the nation on Saturday from an outdoor platform in Wilmington, Delaware.
While it’s far too early to say what the first 100 days of a Biden administration will look like from a detailed policy perspective, the president-elect has made one point abundantly clear. It’s time to get to work — and that work starts with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our work begins with getting COVID under control,” Biden said during his victory speech. “We cannot repair the economy, restore our vitality or relish life’s most precious moments — hugging a grandchild, birthdays, weddings, graduations, all the moments that matter most to us — until we get this virus under control.”
As the United States inches closer toward the macabre milestone of 10 million total coronavirus cases, the Biden administration’s response to the ongoing pandemic will need to be wide-ranging and thorough, touching on everything from vaccine development and distribution, to additional rounds of relief for health care providers. Long-term care and protecting America’s senior population will also need to be at the very center of its response.
“I will spare no effort — or commitment — to turn this pandemic around,” Biden continued.
In the weeks and months leading up to his victory this past weekend, Biden — a soon-to-be 78-year-old man himself — suggested a deep appreciation of home-based care.
In July, for example, the former vice president outlined a $775 billion plan to overhaul the nation’s caregiving infrastructure, which is mostly made up of women and people of color. As part of that plan, Biden said he hoped to create upwards of 3 million new caregiving and education jobs over the next decade, while likewise creating pathways for former caregivers to re-enter the workforce.
The plan additionally called for a $450 million boost for senior care, with some of those funds dedicated to improving wages and labor conditions for in-home care workers.
“Home health workers do God’s work, but aren’t paid much,” the then presidential candidate said on social media. “They have few benefits, and 40% are still on SNAP or Medicaid. It’s unacceptable. I’ll give caregivers and early childhood educators a much-needed raise.”
Biden hasn’t just highlighted his appreciation of home-based care in broad strokes and policy promises. In addition to his $775 billion plan, the president-elect has repeatedly brought attention to very specific, innovative programs that typically only industry insiders know about.
That includes making nuts-and-bolts references to CAPABLE, the increasingly popular program out of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing designed to support aging in place by coordinating nursing, therapy and handyman services in the home.
“To hear him really describe [CAPABLE] was thrilling,” Sarah Szanton, the Johns Hopkins professor who helped create the program, recently told Home Health Care News.
Protecting America’s seniors
Moving forward, Biden and his staff will likely try to secure additional resources for home-based care providers and other long-term care operators. In its official policy plan for nursing home regulations, for instance, the Biden team stated it would invoke the Defense Production Act to increase the overall supply of PPE.
The campaign was highly critical of the Trump administration for failing to coordinate sufficient distribution of testing supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) early on, so a lack of action on that front would only be viewed as hypocritical.
Currently, “protecting older Americans” is one of the main priorities featured on the Biden-Harris Transition website. That fact that hasn’t gone overlooked by those in the aging services space.
“We appreciate the Biden-Harris Transition team’s announcement regarding its COVID-19 response,” Argentum CEO James Balda said in a statement. “The specific emphasis on protecting at-risk populations, which includes older adults and those who serve them, as well as a focus on the efficacy of vaccine distribution, is critical to controlling the spread of this virus.”
Argentum is the country’s largest senior living association.
The Biden-Harris Transition team announced the formation of its 13-person Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board on Monday. The advisory board will be led by former FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler, former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a Yale physician and researcher.
“Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important battles our administration will face, and I will be informed by science and by experts,” President-Elect Biden said Monday.
Notably, the advisory board also includes Dr. Atul Gawande, the surgeon and writer who founded Ariadne Labs, a joint center between Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Gawande — former CEO of Haven, the health care venture founded by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase — has been a staunch supporter of palliative medicine and end-of-life care. His participation on the board could signal a focus on those areas during the duration of the public health emergency.
The Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC) said it has been encouraged by a number of Biden campaign proposals that have the potential to improve the lives of the seriously ill, particularly in home- and community-based settings.
“C-TAC looks forward to forging new relationships with those in the incoming Biden administration and Congress,” C-TAC Executive Director Jon Broyles said in a statement. “As we work toward building a health care system that works for everyone, it is essential that we come together to find innovative solutions that meet the needs of the sickest and most vulnerable among us, with particular attention to low-income, traditionally underserved individuals.”
Beyond home care
The advisory board may include others in days to come.
Given the pandemic’s outsized impact on people age 65 and older, additional expertise in aging — whether via gerontologists, industry leaders or researchers — would bring much value, according to Ruth Katz, LeadingAge’s senior vice president of policy. LeadingAge is a diverse association of nonprofit providers of aging services.
“We expect to see a focus on in-home and community-based services through programs in their platform on caregiving, education and workforce,” Katz said in a statement. “That’s a positive.”
Beyond directly supporting home-based care, a Democratic president in the White House and a split Congress may also mean a heightened willingness to reach across the aisle to get things done, at least compared to the past four years.
Initially, there’s bound to be friction between both governing parties, a concept reflected in the largely unsubstantiated voter-fraud concerns voiced by Republican leadership. Over time, though, lawmakers will hopefully find common ground on no-brainer, common-sense issues.
That could mean newfound momentum behind legislation with bipartisan support, such as the Home Health Emergency Access to Telehealth (HEAT) Act, a bill to provide Medicare reimbursement for audio and video telehealth services delivered by home health agencies during a public emergency. Among the bill’s backers is Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, one of the few Republicans to officially congratulate Biden on his victory.
It could also mean continued support for Medicare Advantage (MA), which, in turn, means continued support for home care. Often cited as the future of health care by Republicans, MA was actually first enacted under the Clinton administration as “Medicare Plus Choice.”
Better Medicare Alliance President and CEO Allyson Y. Schwartz reminded people of that on Monday.
“The story of Medicare Advantage is one this new administration can be proud to continue,” Schwartz, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, said in a statement. “We stand ready to work with President-elect Biden, Vice President-elect Harris and their team to build on this bipartisan success.”
Out of a total Medicare-eligible population of more than 62.4 million individuals as of October 2020, nearly 25.4 million had signed up for MA, federal statistics show.
Biden, of course, has also voiced support for “Medicare at 60,” a plan to allow Americans between the ages of 60 and 64 the option of buying into Medicare slightly earlier. If ever enacted, that plan would dramatically expand the population of Medicare beneficiaries able to receive Medicare-certified home health services.
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'Our Work Begins with Getting COVID Under Control': What a Biden Administration Means for Home-Based Care - Home Health Care News
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