According to statistics gathered by the AARP Public Policy Institute, there are approximately 40 million unpaid family caregivers in the United States. These unpaid caregivers, many of them seniors themselves, gave care worth about $470 billion in 2015. This is based on a conservative caregiving salary of $12.51 an hour for this work.
This invisible workforce goes unnoticed when economists are calculating economic statistics, but the financial, emotional and physical cost to those unseen workers is enormous. Family caregivers have long been involved in non-medical and personal care for dependent loved ones, but now they are performing nursing and medical services once done in hospitals. This can be a huge burden to the spouse, friend or family member, especially when it involves Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. Healthcare policy planners have long known this, and now Congress has taken notice.
The RAISE Act (Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage Family Caregivers Act) instructs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop a plan to support family caregivers. The RAISE Act has now been passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump. The Secretary is to gather an advisory body to make recommendations about helping these unpaid workers. The advisory council will be made up of healthcare providers, veterans, local officials and others; council meetings will be open to the public.
Hopefully, the RAISE Act is just the first step in a long journey. The problem of providing home healthcare from either family or senior home care professionals is only going to grow in coming years. Americans are living longer, hopefully in good health, but the need for in-home senior care is bound to increase as more and more people enter senior life. So far, there are no concrete proposals, but ideas that have been floated include-
- Public support for respite services and in-home senior care
- Workplace flexibility for family senior home care
- Education and training support for those family senior home care providers
- Tax incentives for family members who give up paid employment to provide in-home senior care.
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