Amid the litany of combative and strange remarks from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as he testified before Congress this week, my colleague Julia Métraux noticed something especially vexing: Kennedy’s attacks against paid caregiving.
Specifically, Kennedy singled out the fact that some states allow some family caregivers to receive payment through Medicaid, a system Kennedy alleged is “rife with fraud.” Kennedy indicated that he’d like to dismantle those programs in favor of unpaid work, implicitly by women, in the home—already the predominant model for many households, and a far from sustainable one.
I don’t exactly expect the scion of a storied political family to understand the importance of Medicaid-backed programs that provide millions, including the disabled, with the support they need to avoid institutions. Plus, going after safety net programs is bread and butter for the right. Still, it’s all enraging.
But don’t let me convince you. Julia talked to a parent and advocate who fought for paid caregiving for minor disabled children in her home state of Oregon about what RFK Jr. doesn’t understand—or want to know—about these programs. I urge you to read.
—Inae Oh
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