Caring for a chronically ill parent, spouse, or other relative is hard. And, without support, it can seriously interfere with paid jobs, disrupting not only employees’ lives but their workplaces as well. There are lots of good reasons for firms to assist workers who are caring for loved ones. Unfortunately, many don’t make the effort, perhaps because they are worried [...]
Welcome to November, National Family Caregivers Month, one of those Hallmark Card-like designations that politicians grant when they can’t, or won’t, actually act to help people. But instead of getting frustrated over what Congress isn’t doing, it seems like a good opportunity to think about what support those family members need. Many groups have surveyed family caregivers over the years [...]
The federal agency that operates Medicare, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is finally recognizing what families have known for, well, thousands of years: Family members are the bedrock of the system of care for frail older adults and younger people with disabilities. And the agency is taking some important steps to help them. Some proposals will provide [...]
Family caregivers are overwhelmed, usually untrained, and often under enormous financial stress. If they are lucky, they have a community to help support them. But unless those receiving care are on Medicaid, they get little help from government. Now, Maine has begun a program aimed at helping family members care for aging or disabled relatives and help themselves. Called “Respite [...]
More than ever, family members are required to play a major role in caring for their loved ones. But they are being asked to do increasingly complex medical tasks with little or no training. The result: Greater risk to patients and enormous avoidable stress for those family caregivers. A new study attempts to identify the barriers to good caregiver training. [...]
It has become increasingly popular to promote home as a setting for both sophisticated medical treatment and long-term care, and often for good reason. But supporters of this trend need to recognize and reduce the burden it places on families who must take on ever-challenging clinical and organizational roles to make home care work. Hospital at Home; SNF (Skilled Nursing [...]
The congressional proposal to increase federal funding for Medicaid’s home and community-based (HCBS) long-term care program likely would benefit the US economy, although it could increase costs for those not receiving Medicaid. The HCBS expansion is included in the current House version of President Biden’s Build Back Better (BBB) social spending, climate, and tax plan. Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV) and [...]
After much back-and-forth, House Democrats decided to include a scaled-back version of a family and medical leave plan in their nearly $2 trillion version of the Build Back Better social spending bill. The measure would give families up to four weeks of leave a year to care for relatives who are ill, including those who need long-term personal assistance. The [...]
I was a caregiver for my dad. It was extremely rewarding. And incredibly difficult. It was, in fact, the hardest thing I ever have done. Many family care partners pay a high physical, emotional, and financial price for what they do. Now, as Congress is debating major policy changes aimed at making the lives of family caregivers easier, we are [...]
The covid-19 pandemic has increased the burden on family caregivers and made Americans more insistent than ever on receiving their own care at home, rather than in a long-term care facility. Yet, they are in more denial than before the pandemic about the likelihood they or a loved one will need personal assistance at some time in their lives. As [...]