With Medicare, Harris Sees a Potential Last-Minute Appeal to Voters

Kamala Harris’s campaign proposal to add home health care to Medicare was a sign of the program’s growing power in American politics.

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Vice President Kamala Harris announced her Medicare policy proposal on “The View” on Tuesday.

In a presidential campaign cycle unusually light on health care proposals, Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday unveiled an ambitious — and expensive — Medicare strategy that would introduce a new category of coverage for home health care.

The proposal would involve Medicare paying for home health aides to assist older Americans with daily tasks such as eating and using the bathroom. It amounted to a last-minute bet by the Harris campaign that major domestic policy reforms could break through to undecided voters.

It was also a sign of Medicare’s growing power in American life. Enrollment has steadily risen over the past decade, with nearly 70 million people in the program, many of them in private Medicare Advantage plans. That has made the program a rich target for presidential candidates seeking to appeal to older voters and the family members who look after them, often in difficult economic circumstances.

The Harris campaign cited a University of Michigan poll from August showing that more than a quarter of people 50 years and older help care for at least one family member or friend with a health problem.

Ms. Harris introduced the idea in two mass-media venues likely to reach people who would be affected by the policy: ABC’s “The View” and on the satellite radio show hosted by Howard Stern. A spokesman for the Harris campaign noted the reach of the vice president’s announcement: Though the audience for both shows is in the millions, women make up a significant portion of “The View” audience, while men account for a majority of Mr. Stern’s listeners.

Ms. Harris’s proposal came as more Americans have become familiar with the painstaking, life-altering work of tending to their older relatives. The number of Americans who will need home care is expected to continue growing substantially, with the first baby boomers entering retirement by the thousands every day.

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