Newswire: 5/22/20
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- Fully 64% of caregivers are providing unpaid help alone or with the assistance of other unpaid caregivers, according to a new report. The majority are taking care of relatives, most commonly a parent or spouse, making up a vast network of informal care that is being stretched thin by the pandemic. (National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP)
- NH: Americans are generally aware that demographic aging is pushing up the amount of care that elderly people require. Most of us probably assume that this care is being paid for, whether it’s in the form of a person (e.g. an in-home health care worker) or an institution (a nursing home). But in fact, just a small fraction of this care is paid.
- According to AARP’s latest report on caregiving, which studies Americans who offer unpaid care to family members and friends, 64% of caregivers reported receiving no form of paid help at all in the past 12 months. (Just 22% say they had both paid and unpaid help, while just 14% say that they only had paid help.) Of the 64%, 33% say that they provided care on their own, and the other 31% received help only from other unpaid caregivers. The overall unpaid share has almost certainly swelled due to the pandemic, since many professional caregivers are no longer coming to people’s homes and families are taking their loved ones out of nursing homes to avoid the virus.
- With the elderly population growing steadily, the share of Americans who report being a caregiver to an adult has increased from 16.6% in 2015 to 19.2% today. Most likely to be receiving care are parents or parents-in-law (50%), followed by spouses (12%) and grandparents or grandparents-in-law (8%). The average care recipient is 68.9 years old.
- These numbers carry some important implications. Though an aging population obviously imposes considerable costs on public programs like Social Security and Medicare, these programs generally do not cover the vast cost (in time or money or both) of long-term care and assistance for those with chronic disease and disabilities. Over the next couple of decades, Gen X and Millennial family members will be bearing most of that cost.
- With the vast majority of unpaid caregivers receiving little or no paid assistance from professionals, those who have family or close friends who can provide care have huge advantages over those who do not. A rising share of Boomer seniors do not have family members to help them. They will face uncertainty and difficulty.
