To the extent that party platforms actually influence candidates once they’re elected, the Republican and Democratic platforms for 2012 both have good things to say about home care.

The GOP platform is more specific, asserting that “because seniors overwhelmingly desire to age at home, we will make home care a priority in public policy.” Republicans also “will champion the right of individual choice in senior care” and “will work to ensure that quality care is provided across the care continuum from home to nursing home to hospice,” their platform promises.    

According to the National Association for Home Care & Hospice, this is only the second time that the Republican Party platform has specifically endorsed the expansion of home care. The first time was in 1988, when GOP candidate George H.W. Bush was elected president.

This year’s Democratic platform, was more general in its discussion of home care. It merely notes that health are reform legislation (the Affordable Care Act) is “helping Medicaid to support home- and community-based services to keep people in their communities.”