Health Care Spotlight: Kamala Harris
Little Lobbyists mom, Sam, and her daughter, Jo, pose with then-Senator Kamala Harris in a Senate office building corridor. Harris is crouched on her heels next to Jo’s medical stroller (and its various medical equipment), and is giving Jo a high-five. Sam is on the other side of Jo’s stroller, wearing a black sleeveless dress and smiling.
On Sunday, July 21, President Joe Biden announced that he would not seek re-election, and endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, to be the Democratic nominee. Little Lobbyists would like to express gratitude for all that the Biden Administration has done for our families–expanding Medicaid access, supporting the Affordable Care Act, working to increase funding for Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS), and updating the Section 504 regulations for the Department of Health and Human Services.
With a new generation of leadership taking the reins, we’d like to highlight the work Kamala Harris has done on health care and Medicaid services. Harris has been a supporter of our families since our founding in 2017 when she listened to our children’s stories, shared them with the country, and helped stop congressional Republicans from dismantling the ACA. Her presence meant a lot, and she has been consistent in her support of our children’s rights to health care and Medicaid services ever since.
Reducing the Cost of Health Care
Harris is a strong supporter of the ACA, as well as Medicaid expansion. Both issues are critical to our families, many of whom are on waiting lists for the Home and Community-Based (HCBS) waiver services that keep medically complex and disabled children in their communities, where they belong. Keeping private health insurance affordable is critical.
The next president will decide whether Americans get to keep the enhanced ACA subsidies that were part of the American Rescue Plan (and extended by the Inflation Reduction Act,) which resulted in an additional 6.3 million people who were able to access health insurance. The enhanced subsidies will expire at the end of 2025.
Commitment to Home Care
The American Rescue Plan provided $37 billion in funding for states to improve HCBS. AS VP, Kamala Harris traveled the country, encouraging states to use funds to improve caregiver wages, subsidized housing, and other initiatives to shore up our nation’s care infrastructure. While the funds were seen as a “downpayment” on improving America’s home care system, they will also expire in 2025.
Kamala Harris has shown real commitment to understanding the complexity and overwhelming need of our families to access care for our medically complex loved ones. Her 2021 listening tour included visiting the home of Little Lobbyists’ Jamie Davis Smith, mother to Claire. Of the Vice President, Jamie said she “was warm and engaging, and she seemed genuinely interested in how families like mine struggle.”
Speaking on this issue last winter, Harris said, “every caregiver in our nation deserves fair pay, safe working conditions and respect. And every person in our nation deserves access to high-quality care, so they can live with safety, dignity and self determination.” She also supported the President’s Executive Order on Increasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers, which authorized the administration to seek avenues for improving access to care.
Then-Senator Harris speaks to Little Lobbyist Xiomara in an ornately paneled meeting room in the Capitol building. Xiomara regards her with interest. Xiomara’s mom, Elena, stands on the other side of Harris and is wearing a red dress.
Family Issues
A recent article in The 19th has dubbed her campaign “The Momala Economy,” after the nickname her stepchildren gave her years ago. Harris has championed a six-month paid family leave that would also include “chosen family.” As both Senator and Vice President, Harris has been a strong voice in favor of reproductive rights, paid family leave, elder and disability care, and other family-related issues. During her Senate career, she sponsored the National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, which would “help to create a standard that provides the respect, dignity, and recognition that all domestic workers deserve.” Most paid caregivers are women of color, who are paid little and struggle to care for their own families.
Why does Harris understand caregivers so well? Kamala Harris was raised by a single mother, Shyamala Gopalan. When her mother became ill with cancer, Harris helped her remain in her own home until she passed away in 2009. Recent news stories suggest Harris will continue a focus on the care economy begun by President Biden.
As the Harris campaign gathers steam, we hope to hear more specific policies and proposals on health care, caregiving, bodily autonomy, and disability.