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 [...]
The coronavirus pandemic and the fast-moving federal response to it is upending long-standing rules and practices for caring for older adults. Some changes will be incredibly disruptive, while others may increase support for vulnerable seniors. Here are some of the ways they are affecting how we care for our parents. No more nursing home visits. Just a week ago, the [...]
Family members and friends are the bedrock of our system of personal care for frail older adults and younger people with disabilities. Without their support, the nation’s hospitals and nursing homes would be filled to the rafters with very sick, frail seniors. And many of those older adults would die before their time. Those family caregivers often provide assistance with [...]
Nearly all of the Democratic presidential hopefuls have proposed or supported plans to create a federal family leave program that would include those who are caring for frail parents or other relatives. That’s gratifying. It’s too bad that in this week’s debate, all but Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) appear to have forgotten the fact. They were happy to chime in [...]