Perspective               

Easing the Burdens of Informal Caregivers

A Medicare Rights Center (MRC) survey found that over a fifth of informal caregivers spend between five and 10 hours a day providing care to a friend or relative. Some 52 percent of survey respondents reported neglecting their own health, and 55 percent reported making work-related sacrifices because of their caregiving duties.

Approximately 52 million people, about a third of the nation's adult population, provide care to a friend or relative. Twelve percent of caregivers are age 65 or over.Because Medicare was created to cover acute care needs, it pays for only a limited number of home care services and does not meet the long-term needs of older and disabled individuals.

Congress took measures to offer caregivers support on a national level when it approved $125 million in funding for the National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP) in 2001. NFCSP provides family caregivers of adults 60 and older, or related elderly caregivers of children age 18 or younger, with information about services, respite care, counseling, support groups, training, and some supplemental services.

Survey respondents agreed that easing the burden of caregiving is essential, and ranked the four MRC recommendations for improving caregivers' situation in order of importance to them: expanding Medicare to cover more home care and nursing home care; expanding the National Family Caregiver Support Program; instituting an annual tax credits to caregivers; and expanding and making more affordable adult day care and assisted living facilities.

Some of the major recommendations the caregivers themselves proposed included: providing Social Security and Medicare benefits to caregivers; expanding the Family Medical Leave Act; providing "cradle-to-grave" coverage for all Americans; making private insurance more affordable, particularly for people with disabilities; and making prescription drug coverage available to all people with Medicare.

To read the full survey results, published in Medicare Facts and Faces: Easing the Burdens of Family Caregivers, click here.

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