Senior dependents don’t get coronavirus relief checks. Can the next bill change that?
Older dependents are not eligible for coronavirus relief checks.
While dependents younger than 17 can net their caregivers $500 a head, seniors and their caregivers are among the millions of Americans left out by the CARES Act, outlets report.
The American Association of Retired Persons has been hearing complaints from caregivers and members across the U.S. since the act passed and is lobbying Congress to make a change, USA Today reports.
Though this demographic was excluded, seniors and caregivers -- who are frequently family members -- are often in financially rocky situations and may be in need of help now more than ever.
“A lot of times when people think about caregiving or dependent care, they initially think children and don’t always extend that same kind of thinking to older dependents in the household,” David Certner, legislative policy counsel for the AARP, told USA Today. “We think that’s a mistake because it’s just as important to be able to provide for the caregivers of those dependents as well.”
There are more than 40 million unpaid caregivers in the United States, according to Pew Research, and nine times out of 10 it’s someone looking after an aging relative.
Over half of those caregivers reported working full-time jobs, too, though that reporting came well before the current nationwide unemployment surge.
Undocumented immigrants or anyone without a valid Social Security number are not eligible for payments, and neither are babies born in 2020 or people with disabilities who are supported by their guardians, according to Reuters. The full list goes on.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it a “monumental injustice” that the bill does nothing to help many mixed-status families -- which would include senior dependents and caregivers.
Some Democrats in congress say they aim to remedy that “injustice” with the next piece of legislation.
“We’re working to fix that issue in the next bill so that those individuals are able to get the payments they’re in fact eligible to receive,” said Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, according to USA Today.
Republicans, however, might not be so keen on the idea.
The checks were meant “to provide support for Americans who are responsible for their own financial well-being during this pandemic” and elderly dependents don’t meet that bar, said Michael Zona, Republican spokesman for the Senate Finance Committee, the outlet reported.
