“Family caregivers provide $873.5 billion in unpaid labor annually: report,” by Kathleen Steele Gaivin, McKnights Senior Living
“Approximately 45 million family caregivers in the United States are providing an estimated $873.5 billion in free labor each year, according to the results of a study by the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. That amount compares to 3.2% of the gross domestic product, according to the report. … The authors suggested that state governments could prioritize benefit programs for family caregivers, such as payment for services and adding health benefits. The federal government can help, they added, by expanding caregiver tax credits and reimbursement options under Medicare and Medicaid.”
LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform:
Free family care approaches a trillion dollars. That’s the biggest number I’ve seen so far. Imagine if families didn’t pitch in and this extra fiscal burden fell on the State. So what should we do about it? The only idea in this piece, and most articles like it, is to lean more heavily on government. But look where that has gotten us already. Better: read the Paragon Health Institute’s “Long-Term Care: The Problem” and “Long-Term Care: The Solution” and watch this “virtual LTC event” featuring age wave visionary Ken Dychtwald and leading LTC researchers. To find ample private funds for LTC, check out “Medicaid’s $100+ Billion Leak.” For what not to do, see “Medi-Cal-amity: California’s Reckless Expansion of Medicaid Long-Term Care to the Affluent.” Much more on long-term care here.