Health & Well-Being » Family Caregiving
Why It's Important
The monetary impact of caregiving on family members has been calculated in various
studies, but the impact it has on in terms of emotional stress, personal sacrifice
and physical strain compound the value of care delivery beyond what can be measured
in financial loss. The Boomer demographic has married later and had fewer children
than their parents (today's seniors). These changes between generations will point
to fewer caregivers for millions of aging Baby Boomers. The Boomer cohort also has
far more women engaged in the workforce -- causing more changes to the family structure.
As the "sandwich" generation copes with caring for aging parents and caring for
their own children, increasing flexibility from their employers will be paramount
in allowing them to be able to do their jobs both as employees and as caregivers.
Offering family leave in addition to that provided by the FMLA is a step in the
right direction.
See Data By: Richmond MSA | Virginia
| National
How Richmond Is Doing
Two in five area employers report offering some type of family leave time in addition
to FMLA.
How Virginia Is Doing
- 22 percent of Boomers in Virginia are currently caregivers for a parent, stepparent
or older relative (compared to 17 percent of the overall population) (ODP RESIDENT,
2008)
- 41 percent of employers offer Family Leave time beyond FMLA (ODP Business Leader,
2008)
- More than half of Boomers in Virginia either are current caregivers or have been
within the past five years. (ODP RESIDENT, 2008)
How the U.S. Is Doing
- National Family Caregivers Association & Family Caregiver Alliance provides
an estimated prevalence and economic value of caregiving by state.
- In 2004, there were an estimated 27 million caregivers (according to SIPP) and 30.7
million caregivers (according to NSFH). The average of these two estimates was used
to arrive at a mid-range estimate of the number of caregivers nationally -- 28.8
million.
Estimated Pevalence and Economic Value of
Family Caregiving by State
|
State
|
Number of Caregivers
2004
|
Caregiving hours per year (millions)
|
Annual market value
(millions of dollars)
|
Virginia
(Ranked #12)
|
740,402
|
793
|
$7,868
|
|
United States
|
28,827,766
|
30,880
|
$306,333
|
(NFCA & FCA, ESTIMATED PREVALENCE AND ECONOMIC VALUE
OF FAMILY CAREGIVING BY STATE, 2006)
According to the 2007 Evercare and NAC study on the cost of family caregiving:
- Most (57%) of the respondents were caring for a parent or parent-in-law, and 21
percent were providing care for a spouse. The remainder were helping siblings (4%),
grandparents (5%) other relatives or friends (13%).
- Two-thirds (67%) of the respondents reported they helped with ADLs, and 97 percent
reported they helped with IADLs.
- The average number of hours spent in helping the care recipient was 35.4 hours a
week, with a median response of 20 hours. Half (52%) had been providing care for
three or more years and 32 percent had been providing care for more than five years.
- Nearly half of the respondents (45%) of this sample reported that the person they
were helping lived with them and another 44 percent of the sample lived near the
care recipient. One in ten caregivers (10%) reported that they lived more than an
hour away from the person they were helping.
(EVERCARE NAC, STUDY OF FAMILY CAREGIVERS, 2007)
According to AARP's Public Policy Institute report, Valuing the Invaluable: The
Economic Value of Family Caregiving, 2008 Update:
- About 34 million family caregivers provided care at any given point in time, and
about 52 million provided care at some time during the year.
- The estimated economic value of their unpaid contributions was approximately $375
billion in 2007, up from an estimated $350 billion in 2006.
- The economic value of caregiving exceeded total Medicaid long-term care (LTC) spending
in all states, and was more than three times as high in 36 states.
- Compared with Medicaid home- and community-based service spending, the economic
value of family caregiving was at least three times as high in all states, and more
than ten times as high in 19 states.
(AARP, PPI VALUING THE INVALUABLE, 2008 UPDATE)
According to the AOA, A Profile of Older Americans: 2008
- About 11% (3.7 million) of older Medicare enrollees received personal care from
a paid or unpaid source in 1999.
- Almost all community resident older persons with chronic disabilities receive either
informal care (from family or friends) or formal care (from service provider agencies).
- Over 90%of these older persons with chronic disabilities received informal care
and/or formal care; and about two thirds received only informal care.
- About 9% of this chronically disabled group received only formal services.
(AOA, PROFILE OF OLDER AMERICANS, 2008)
Data & Information Sources
AARP Public Policy Institute, Valuing the Invaluable: The Economic Value of Family
Caregiving, 2008
http://www.aarp.org/research/housing-mobility/caregiving/i13_caregiving.html
Administration on Aging, Profile of Older Americans, 2008
http://www.aoa.gov/AoAroot/Aging_Statistics/Profile/2008/docs/2008profile.pdf
Evercare and National Alliance for Caregiving, Evercare and Study of Family Caregivers
- What They Spend, What They Sacrifice, 2007
http://evercarehealthplans.com/pdf/evercare_caregiver_study.pdf
Family Caregiver Alliance
http://www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/home.jsp
Federal Interagency Forum on Aging Related Statistics
http://www.agingstats.gov/agingstatsdotnet/main_site/default.aspx
National Family Caregivers Association and Family Caregivers Alliance, Hours and
Economic Value of Family Caregiving, Updated State-by-State Analysis of
2004 National Estimates by Peter S. Arno, PhD. Kensington, MD, 2006
http://www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content/pdfs/State_Caregiving_Data_Arno_20061107.pdf
National Family Caregiver Association
http://www.thefamilycaregiver.org/
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/