President Joe Biden speaks at an event in Goffstown, N.H., in March. The president said this week he wants to do more to address long-standing wait times for home- and community-based services and take steps to bolster the direct support workforce. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald/TNS)
As the Biden administration prepares to issue new rules aimed at better supporting people with disabilities, the president says more needs to be done.
In a speech this week, the president said he was committed to improving the country’s nursing care infrastructure.
Biden said his administration will issue rules in the coming weeks to tighten staffing standards for nursing homes and ensure a greater share of Medicaid benefits go to home care workers.
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“But it’s not enough,” Biden said. “I want to do more, and we can do more.”
Biden cited roughly 700,000 seniors and people with disabilities on Medicaid waiting lists for home- and community-based services, the rising costs of long-term care and the challenges facing workers who support people with disabilities.
The president has said his proposed budget for next year would raise taxes on billionaires in order to tackle these problems head-on.
“We will expand Medicaid home care services and reduce the backlog of 700,000 people,” Biden told family caregivers, care workers and other advocates gathered in Washington. “That means more people will be able to live and work in their communities with dignity and independence. More home care workers will start getting the better wages, benefits and dignity they deserve.”
Biden is also pushing to establish a national paid family and medical leave policy.
Many of Biden’s proposals require congressional action, and lawmakers have struggled in recent years to reach a spending agreement. A deal on government funding for the current fiscal year, which began in October, was only hammered out last month, but the upcoming election is likely to bring more uncertainty.
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