Report calls for national strategy, policies to support family caregivers

Family caregivers provided an estimated 37 billion hours of care to adult relatives or friends with chronic or disabling health conditions in 2013, according to a report released today by the AARP Public Policy Institute. The authors estimate the economic value of that care at $470 billion, based on an estimated 40 million family caregivers providing an average 18 hours of care per week at a value of $12.51 per hour. As baby boomers age, the number of potential family caregivers for each American aged 80 and older is expected to fall from nearly 7 to 1 today to 4 to 1 in 2030 and 3 to 1 in 2050, the report adds. To address this “looming care gap,” the report calls for a “broad national strategy” to address the needs of caregiving families, tax credits to ease the cost of caregiving, workplace flexibility policies and other supportive services. Other proposals include assessing family caregiver needs through Medicaid home- and community-based services, hospital discharge planning, chronic care coordination and care transition programs.