Family caregiving is something most of us hardly think about — until we have to. Then the phone rings, and you hear that your mother, or father, or spouse has broken a hip or suffered a stroke. In that instant, you become a different person. You’re now a caregiver.
There are 154,000 family caregivers in Hawaii. They are an invisible army. If they were paid, the services of the Aloha State’s family caregivers would be worth $1.2 billion a year, but, in truth, their work is priceless.
Caregiving is anything but easy. It is lovingly done — but can also be isolating, stressful and lonely. Many caregivers struggle to maintain their own physical and emotional well-being while caring for the people they love.
It doesn’t have to be so difficult. Over the past two years, AARP has been behind the passage of more than 150 state laws in Hawaii and elsewhere to support family caregivers, with dozens more in the pipeline.
We’ve drafted model legislation on topics ranging from providing tax credits to family caregivers, to the ability to use sick leave to care for an ailing loved one.
State legislatures from Hawaii to New York are stepping up to help employed family caregivers with measures that provide some financial relief and workplace flexibility.
Hawaii is leading the nation in this area with the Kupuna Caregivers Assistance Act. The first-of-its kind program in the nation provides up to $70 a day in services for working caregivers.
In other states:
>> Washington considered the Long-Term Care Trust Act, which would have given family caregivers $100 a day for a year, relieving strain on the Medicaid budget.
>> Washington, California, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York and the District of Columbia passed laws that require employers to provide paid family leave for employees who need time off to care for sick or disabled family members or a new child.
>> Legislatures in Illinois and Georgia passed laws giving public and private sector employees the flexibility to use existing paid leave to care for themselves or a loved one.
>> In Arizona, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Wisconsin, legislatures considered providing tax credits for family caregivers who spend their own money assisting a loved one.
What we point out to employers is that flexible workplace policies that respect workers’ caregiving duties pay off for the employer. They lower absenteeism and reduce costs. They allow employers to hang onto a talented and knowledgeable workforce.
At this point, the United States is not prepared to meet the long-term care needs of our rapidly aging society. AARP believes we need a comprehensive national strategy to help people remain in their own homes as they get older. This strategy should include:
>> Steps to ease the burden on family caregivers.
>> Steering more resources in public programs like Medicaid toward care at home, rather than care in institutions, which costs three times more.
>> Better integration of health-care services and expanded use of technology to help people live independent, secure and engaged lives as they get older.
>> More ways to help individuals pay for services they need, without having to impoverish themselves in order to qualify for Medicaid.
These are subjects that will, at some point, touch each of us personally — as older persons, as members of our communities, as caregivers, and as the cared-for.
It’s time to heed the words of AARP’s founder, Ethel Percy Andrus, who in 1958 said: “It is one thing to recognize that older people represent the nation’s greatest single human resource available — and it is quite another to do something about it. … ”
Let’s do something about it.
Eric Schneidewind is national president of AARP and was a caregiver to his late wife; this commentary is based on his keynote address to the AARP Hawaii Caregiver Conference last month.
