Home and community-based care supports us all

Every day, millions of workers enter people’s homes to provide care to those with disabilities and the elderly. These “direct-care” workers assist individuals with bathing and dressing, cooking and eating, taking medication, and getting exercise. For the people they help, they are lifelines to health, independent living, and economic stability.

Yet our system for providing this care is in desperate need of repair. Medicaid serves approximately 4.8 million Americans with home- and community-based services, but there are still nearly 850,000 people on waiting lists. They often wait years for cru...