Gore announces 'eldercare' plan to help families

June 7, 2000
Web posted at: 6:03 PM EDT (2203 GMT)

PALM SPRINGS, California (CNN) -- Vice President Al Gore kicked off a three-day West Coast campaign swing Wednesday by promoting his $30 billion "elder care" initiative offering tax credits, expanded Medicaid coverage and other help for families caring for aging relatives.

"Caring for an aging parent or grandparent is one of the most rewarding and important jobs in America. And it's time to give more honor, more respect and more help to the caregivers," Gore told a group of mostly seniors at a retirement center in Palm Springs.

The centerpiece of the vice president's 10-year proposal is a $3,000 per year tax credit for people who need long-term care or those who provide such care at home for an elderly or disabled relative or friend.

"We need to get help to people who care for the people they love," Gore told the audience.

The vice president also announced plans to establish a $2.5 million grant program to help communities provide adult care service and offer "respite care" to help family caregivers take a break from their obligations.

Gore also vowed to eliminate "institutional bias" in the Medicaid program.

Noting that about 80 percent of long-term care costs covered in federal and state Medicaid programs are for nursing home care only, Gore said he would allow states to expand their programs to cover community-based and home care without a federal waiver.

"A lot of families are forced to put their loved ones in nursing homes because that's the only way they can get the financial help necessary to get the care their loved ones need," the vice president said.

Currently states and communities must apply for federal waivers to offer such services through Medicaid. The vice president also proposed a "one-stop" resource center to help caregivers find services and appropriate care advice. It would include a toll-free phone service and Web site.

"By making eldercare more affordable, by helping families provide the best care in their own homes and communities, we can strengthen our families across their generations and honor the parents and grandparents who did so much to make us what we are today," he said.

Most of the funding, at least $26 billion, for Gore's "eldercare" proposals would come from the Clinton administration's proposed plan to cut middle-class taxes by $250 billion over the next ten years, Gore aides said.

The vice president has shifted his campaign's attention recently to themes such as elder care, day care, and cancer research as he seeks to attract female voters and mount a more positive campaign against his Republican rival, Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

Bush spent the day at the executive mansion in Austin, Texas, where he announced a $50 million initiative to help communities along the U.S-Mexico border prosecute drug crimes.

"The federal government has a critical responsibility to enforce our nation's drug laws and to stop international drug traffickers," Gov. Bush said. "In our battle against the international drug trade, the Southwest border is the front line."

The Texas governor said the proposal would reimburse border counties for prosecuting federal drug referrals and direct U.S. Attorneys on the Southwest border to prosecute large drug cases in federal court.

Meanwhile, Gore was scheduled to attend six Democratic Party fund-raisers in California on Thursday, and Seattle on Friday. The Democratic National Committee announced Wednesday that it using such "soft money" donations to help fund a series of issue ads set to hit the airwaves later this week.

The ads are designed to give a boost to Gore campaign, which has little post-primary money on hand. The vice president must now wait until August to receive federal matching funds for the general election campaign. Bush, who turned down matching funds, is not bound by federal spending constraints.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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