Hillary Clinton Puts Family Caregiving on the Political Front-Burner [View all]

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Source: forbes.com





Nov 23, 2015 @ 05:55 PM 104 views


Howard Gleckman ,


For the first time in years, maybe for the first time ever, a major presidential candidate has put family caregiving on the political front-burner. Over the weekend, Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton proposed a package of ideas aimed at assisting those who are caring for aging parents or other family members.

Her ideas are modest and won’t provide the level of help many family caregivers need. But she made the issue of caring for frail parents or younger people with disabilities a key plank in her campaign. She’s talking about it. And that will force other candidates to talk about it. That is an enormous step forward.

Clinton’s proposals fit with her campaign’s basic message of helping middle-class families. They especially target a key constituency for her campaign: Women are at the center of caregiving issues because they are both most likely to be recipients of care (as aging mothers) and givers of care (as adult daughters).

Clinton made four proposals:

A 20 percent tax credit up to $1,200 to subsidize out-of-pocket costs of family members caring for aging parents. For those eligible for the full credit, the tax break would help offset the first $6,000 of caregiving costs. However, the credit would phase out for families with higher incomes and disappear for those making $120,000 or more. The proposal is based on Americans Giving Care to Elders (AGE) Act, a bill offered in pact years by Democratic senators Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland.


A new initiative to improve the lives of direct care workers. Rather than endorsing specific proposals, Clinton urged a “coordinated, government-wide initiative” aimed at improving training, promotions, and better pay for home health aides and other care workers. She also called for better ways to connect trained workers with families who need their assistance.

Giving credit toward Social Security benefits ............

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/howardgleckman/2015/11/23/hillary-clinton-puts-family-caregiving-on-the-political-front-burner/

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Thank you Hillary.