8/06/2021

My Dear Friends & POTUS, JRB,

            Have you checked in with Deputy Sec. of State, Wendy Sherman, about Myanmar? Please do all you can to keep that on the forefront of your foreign policy considerations.

            Please read the WP front page article, “Unpaid caregivers: How America Treats Women Caring for Paralyzed Partners.” In it one of the paralyzed partners says that they are “being punished for pursuing love.” The article includes several examples of the difficulties of getting strangers to do a good job of caring for a loved one.

I am familiar with this challenge as my husband needs minimal care which I paid helpers to do when I took a 10-day break last month. I was lucky that I could round up a group of friends to check in on him each day to make sure his care givers were doing their jobs. The helpers cost me about $30/hour, but my guess is that they are paid minimum wage. I felt lucky to find them as home-health workers are scarce these days. We need to do more to compensate partners who are taking care of folks at home. It’s demanding work & better for all of us when done by someone who cares!

I was surprised to learn that US health insurance companies have been raking in profits since CV started because people are putting off elective care. How about taxing those windfall profits to help pay for home health workers?

            I know your list of priorities is long. I’d appreciate knowing which of your people are working on this issue so I can follow their tweets.

            I hope you enjoy your time at the beach.

            BYBS,