Former President Donald Trump announced during a New York City campaign rally on Sunday that, if elected, he would support granting a tax credit for family caregivers.
“I’m announcing a new policy today, that I will support a tax credit for family caregivers who take care of a parent or loved one,” Trump said during the event at Madison Square Garden. “It’s about time that they were recognized, right?”
This is not the first time elder care has come up as a priority. During July’s Republican National Convention, policy documents referenced Trump’s promises to strengthen Medicare and focus on at-home care for the elderly, USA Today reported. Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told the newspaper that, if elected, Trump “will take care of our seniors by shifting resources back to at-home senior care, overturning disincentives that lead to care worker shortages, and supporting unpaid family caregivers through tax credits and reduced red tape.”
Both the Trump and Harris campaigns have been courting the support of the “sandwich generation” of voters who are simultaneously caring for their parents and raising their children.
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Earlier this month, during an appearance on ABC’s “The View,” Vice President Kamala Harris pledged to cover in-home care after detailing how she took care of her mother after she was diagnosed with cancer.
“That means trying to cook what they want to eat, what they can eat,” Harris said. “It means picking out clothes for them soft enough that it doesn’t irritate their skin. It means trying to think of something funny to make them laugh or smile. And it’s about dignity for that individual. It’s about independence for that individual.”
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She went on to talk about how expensive it is for families to send their loved ones to residential care facilities or to hire someone for in-home care.
John Anzalone, founder of Impact Research, discussed with AARP how popular proposals for family caregivers are, after his organization took part in an AARP poll on the issue.
“This may be the sleeper issue of the 2024 elections with a voting group that makes up one in five Americans,” he said.
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