Joe Biden and the care economy

Inside the $400 billion black box

(Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

When I first heard that the Biden infrastructure bill would include $400 billion for the care economy — possibly characterized as “care infrastructure” — I was imagining, I dunno, a very complicated, multifaceted program to construct child care centers and create subsidized summer programming for low-income kids.

Or something. I don’t know exactly what I thought. But I have a six-year-old, so to me care means kids, infrastructure means construction, and “the care economy” seemed like something elaborate.

The actual proposal, however, seems pretty simple — it’s just really large.

Basically the way it works is that right now, Medicaid pays for home care services for elderly and disabled people. But it doesn’t pay the caregivers very well. And there isn’t enough money in the program for everyone who needs help to get it. And Biden’s proposal, which offers very few details beyond the large topline figure, is to put more federal money into tha…