Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Tuesday proposed a major new initiative: expanding Medicare to cover the cost of long-term care at home.

Such a plan could mean the option of staying at home, rather than in a nursing facility, for the millions of seniors and people with disabilities who need help with the daily tasks of life.

It could also mean physical and financial relief and new opportunities for school or work outside the home for the millions of working-age Americans who today provide so much of that care on their own without much in the way of outside assistance.

If the proposed legislation is enacted, such a program would represent a substantial boost in federal support for caregiving and, by any measure, one of the largest one-time increases in American history.

Harris made her announcement during an appearance on The View, the nations top-rated daytime talk show, and presented the initiative as a way to help the sandwich generation that is, the working adults who have aging parents while still caring for children. Roughly a quarter of the American population falls into that category, according to Pew Research .

There are so many people in our country who are right in the middle theyre taking care of their kids and theyre taking care of their aging parents and its just almost impossible to do it all, Harris said. Especially if they work, were finding that so many are then having to leave their job, which means losing a source of income, not to mention the emotional stress.

Harris pledged to finance the home care initiative fully, in part by tapping the savings from yet another reform she has proposed: expanding the federal governments power to negotiate drug prices directly with manufacturers. The federal government acquired that power just two years ago , thanks to Democratic legislation that Harris supported.