As the U.S. population ages, many families are facing the same challenges. Long-term care, which is assistance with the activities of daily living either in a person’s home or in a facility, is expensive. Most people pay for it either out of their savings, or by spending down those savings until they qualify for Medicaid, which covers long-term care for indigent seniors. (Medicare does not cover senior housing or long-term care.)
But there’s a large group of people who are stuck in-between: they are “too rich” to qualify for the Medicaid benefits that enable them to hire at-home help or put loved ones in a nursing home, but they do not have enough money to pay for the in-home, all-hours care their loved one needs. It then falls to family members to make up the difference. Around two-thirds of caregiving hours for older adults in the U.S. are provided by informal and unpaid caregivers.
“Many times, family members are reducing their own incomes because they’re taking time out of the workforce, or they’re working less,” says Amber Christ, managing director of health advocacy at Justice in Aging, a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of low-income seniors. “They’re risking their future retirement, which increases the likelihood they’ll age into poverty. So it’s really a multigenerational impact.”
