Apple News In Conversation “In sickness and in health”: what no one tells you about caring for a loved one
7 snips
Feb 19, 2026 
Laura Mauldin, a disability scholar and author who turned her personal caregiving story into research, shares candid accounts of caring for a partner with leukemia and others facing sudden disability. The conversation highlights how U.S. health systems shift unpaid labor onto loved ones. Intimate stories reveal strain, creativity in adapting, and calls for systemic change.
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Becoming The Full-Time Caregiver
- Laura Mauldin met Jay and soon became her full-time caregiver after Jay's leukemia returned and required a bone marrow transplant.
- The relationship shifted deeply as Laura realized caregiving became her permanent role and there was no simple return to their prior life.
When Insurance Leaves Couples Alone
- Tina, legally blind and later diagnosed with MS, relied increasingly on her husband Ben for intimate daily tasks and medical care.
- They discovered their only practical option was Ben providing most care because Medicaid rules and costs made professional help inaccessible.
Ableism Shapes Care Policy
- Mauldin argues ableism organizes U.S. care policy so that only economically productive bodies reliably access health care.
- This leaves partners and families to supply invisible, uncompensated labor as the de facto care infrastructure.
