PLANNING ON FAMILY CARE

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Disclaimer: This website provides general information. It is not intended as a substitute for personal financial, legal or insurance advice.

Many plan to have their spouse or children provide their long-term care services. It's a good feeling to know that one's family will be willing to help. But when family offer to be the long-term care plan, or parents assume it's a reasonable thing to expect of their children, they are often thinking of the "easy" tasks of helping with shopping and cooking, providing a room in family's home to keep the costs down, and so on. They are not thinking about the labor-intensive and sometimes highy intimate needs of toileting, bathing, dressing, and continually assisting with moving between chairs, bed, and the bathroom. These are the most important services a long-term care policy can pay for, helping the family to be a part of the plan. This helps protect some of the family's own independence. The rewards they can feel helping out their parents are less likely to turn into a frustrating and ongoing burden when there is a way to pay for professional help with the hardest tasks.

Alarming studies further illustrate why in most cases a plan should be in place to supplement family contributions to care.

In 2004, The National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP released results from their national study of 1,247 caregivers. Consider these findings:

• "The average length of caregiving [informal, in the home] is 4.3 years."
• "Women provide more hours of care, higher levels of care and feel they have less of a choice in taking on the role compared to men. These factors increase a woman's risk for emotional stress and lower quality of life."

The National Alliance for Caregiving updated their caregiver research in 2007 with Evercare, showing:

• 34 million Americans care for a loved one age 50 years or older Ð 50% spend more than 10% of their own income.
• Annual caregivingexpenses to caregivers were 1) $8,728 for long-distance caregivers (1+hours away), 2) $5,885 for co-resident caregivers, 3) $4,570 for short-distance caregivers, and 4) $12,348 annually for those who kept expense diaries.
• 37% of respondents had quit their job or cut back on their hours to provide care.
• 49% cut back on leisure activities and 47% on vacations.
• 38% saved less for their own childrenÕs future.
• 27% cut back on basics Ðclothing, utilities, transportation, while 25% cut back on groceries.
• 23% cut back on personal medical or dental expenses

The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that "spousal caregivers aged 66-96 who experience mental or emotional strain from caregiving have a 63% higher mortality rate." Unfortunately, a rather large percentage of caregivers undergo such strain. 30-59% of caregivers report depressive disorders or symptoms (Thompson 2004), 55% report being isolated, and half state that the caregiving burden is frequently or sometimes too much to handle (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 2001).

For a scientific look at how high levels of caregiving directly affect the health of the caregiver, please see MSNBC: "How TLC Makes You Sick: Caring for loved ones endangers health, research says")

Long-term care insurance can be designed to provide financial help in hiring professional assistance to reduce the burden on the family caregiver.

Copyright © Martha H. Bowes, 2005, 2006, 2007