Home care for people with disabilities is massively underfunded. Biden’s Build Back Better bill could change that

Home and community-based services are an essential part the Build Back Better bill winding its way through Congress, writes Eric Garcia

President Joe Biden (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Every day, Marcos Castillo’s home care attendant sets up his electronics, makes his coffee and cleans up his living area. Mr Castillo had a spinal cord injury for the last 20 years that means he is now a quadriplegic.

“So in order for me to live a more independent life, I need home based and community based services, such as my attendant care services, my personal care attendants, in order for me to be able to do my day to day activities,” he told The Independent. But he only three hours to get everything set up on a daily basis.

“So I have to be very sure that after she leaves, after she does her three hours, I am set up so that anything that I need to get to, be it something, as far as like my phone, my communication to the outside world, in case I need to call emergency services, for whatever reason,” he said.