Report Finds that One in Three US Adults Is a Caregiver

The National Alliance for Caregiving commissioned a report on adult caregivers, in collaboration with MetLife and the AARP. The study resulted in interviews with almost 1,500 adult caregivers, who were chosen at random and interviewed in 1997 and 2004. The report revealed that more than 30% of all adults in the United States spend time caring for a loved one that is sick, elderly, or has special needs. Caregivers are usually raising families and holding down jobs outside the home, in addition to serving as caregivers for aging parents, special needs children, or spouses with chronic illnesses. And of those unpaid adult caregivers, two out of three are women.

Elinor Ginzler, senior vice president of Livable Communities Strategies for AARP, says that nearly 65 million adults in the US have taken on the responsibilities of caring for loved ones, apart from their traditional roles as parents. The typical caregiver is female, providing care for a parent, usually her mother, who is in her late 70s or beyond. "Caregiving is traditionally women's work," Ginzler says. "And women are usually juggling work and family responsibilities while they are providing this care."

Old age was reported to be the primary reason caregiving was required, followed by Alzheimer's disease, emotional or mental illness, cancer, heart disease, and stroke. Elderly recipients of care needed help generally because of declining physical health, although more than half of them still maintained their own homes and only about 29% lived with the caregiver in their home. Ginzler says that nearly 75% of the caregivers interviewed had paying jobs outside the home, and two-thirds of them said that had been forced to miss work on occasion due to their responsibilities as caregivers. On average, caregivers spend about 20 hours a week providing care, for an average of 4.6 years.

Ginzler says the findings evidenced by the report highlight that there is a need to make more support services available for caregivers. More than half of the survey respondents said that they could use a tax credit for caregivers, an issue that AARP has pushed for many years. Although the tax credit is not part of the sweeping health care legislation currently being debated in Congress, Ginzler says that the bill being debated does include several provisions to help caregivers. The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act, which was co-written by the late Senator Edward Kennedy, provides for a voluntary national insurance program designed to help Americans afford long-term care. Under the plan, any workers who do not opt out of the voluntary program would be required to pay premiums by having disability and long-term care insurance deducted from their paychecks.

As the health care debate continues, any government assistance programs that may result might not be discovered by caregivers. The Family Care Alliance believes that many caregivers don't think of themselves as being in that role, so they may not think to look for any resources that might be able to help them. A wife taking care of a chronically ill spouse, or an adult who takes care of their parent, may not consider themselves to be a caregiver. Therefore, any support programs developed by the new health care plan that results from the system overhaul needs to include a plan for teaching caregivers the skills they need not only for caregiving, but more importantly, to take care of themselves.