Cuidados a largo plazo

The governor’s Revisión de mayo is being framed as a response to fiscal uncertainty, but for Californians, it reads as a decision to make essential services harder to reach, just as need is rising. When we talk about budget reductions, the focus is often on what disappears, but in practice, costs rarely vanish. They are transferred elsewhere: onto unpaid family caregivers, hospitals, or local systems already under strain. 

Every society reveals its values through how it cares for people with the greatest health and support needs – and for the families, caregivers, providers, and community organizations that sustain them. For millions of Californians, Medicaid is not simply a budget line item, but a lifeline to the state’s health and social care infrastructure. It supports older adults, people with disabilities, children and families, those with low-incomes, and other Californians who rely on essential health, behavioral health, home- and community-based, and long-term care services. 

The United States is at an inflection point. As our population ages, the demands on our long-term care system are accelerating; however, the system itself has not kept pace. What we are witnessing is often described as a “caregiving crisis,” but that framing understates the reality.