US President Joe Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan includes $400 billion to support elder care, according to an article in The Gerontologist, an official journal of The Gerontological Society of America (GSA). Active-aging organizations of all types should pay attention and learn about the options.

In a fact sheet released by the White House on “The American Jobs Plan,” the administration explains that one of its aims is to “solidify the infrastructure of our care economy by creating jobs and raising wages and benefits for essential home care workers.”

The administration’s acknowledgement of the fact that the caregiving crisis is partially caused by low wages paid to caregivers, and that elder care is infrastructure, is incredibly important, according to GSA.

The $400 billion will be used to do the following:

- Expand access to home- and community-based services under Medicaid.

- Extend the longstanding “Money Follows the Person” program that supports innovations in the delivery of long-term care.

- Support well-paying caregiving jobs that include benefits and the ability to collectively bargain (form unions).

Two other parts of the plan that could prove especially impactful for the advancement of age tech are the plan to invest $180 billion in R&D and $100 billion to build high-speed broadband infrastructure to reach 100% coverage, reduce the cost of broadband internet service and promote more widespread adoption.

The investment could be like "rocket fuel" to the home care industry and age-tech developers and providers, according to GSA.

To read more and learn how your organization might benefit, click here

To read the full jobs plan fact sheet, click here

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