RFK Jr. has probably not spent a day in his life depending on a paycheck. So, maybe he has no idea how impossible it would be for many families to give up the income from a job to provide free caregiving for a disabled and/or elderly relative. Or maybe it’s just part of his obvious plan to destroy our public health system, endanger American lives or just kill us outright.
Whatever the reason, Kennedy thinks family members should not be getting Medicaid funds for being caretakers of disabled loved ones. During his testimony on Capitol Hill last week, Kennedy complained about family members getting paid “for balancing the checkbook, for picking up the groceries, for driving somebody to a doctor’s appointment” because those are “things that they used to do as family members for free.”
“This is rife with fraud because we have no way at CMS to determine whether they actually perform that duty or not. We don’t know whether you drove your grandmother to a doctor’s office,” he also said.
There is so much wrong with those statements from the unqualified and unfit Kennedy it’s hard to know where to begin. For one thing, caring for a disabled family member involves much more than occasional light errands. It requires cooking for them, dressing them, often bathing them and performing other hygiene tasks, making sure they take medications, etc. In other words, it’s pretty much a 24/7 job.
And even if working family members could afford to hire home care, they may well not be able to find it. AARP reported in 2022 on an already growing shortage of caregivers.
Kennedy just assumes family members should go without income because there might be some fraud going on.
“The focus on fraud comes as lawmakers in several states are considering scaling back home and community-based services as they prepare for the impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” Disability Scoop reported. That law “is expected to chop federal Medicaid spending by nearly $1 trillion.” Disability Scoop also noted that Dr. Mehmet Oz, the wealthy administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), also suggested families can and should provide caregiving services for free.
This, while Donald “34 felony convictions for fraud” Trump has used his taxpayer-funded job to glom at least $1.4 billion for himself and he’s looking to grab billions more from our public coffers.
If Kennedy really cares about fraud and protecting taxpayer money, he really should pay more attention to the guy he works for.
