Caregiving costs are not just for the elderly

    Is the U.S. ready for a discussion about paying for caregiving, an increasingly vexing and costly problem for a growing number of Americans?
    The answer may be “yes.” It has become obvious that long-term care insurance is not the answer to paying for nursing home and other kinds of care for the elderly. Sales for this product have been declining, the result of sky-high premiums, rate increases and the difficulty of qualifying for a policy if you’re sick.
    But the elderly are not the only Americans needing care. At the other end of the age spectrum, paying for child care is becoming harder and harder except for families with the fattest salaries.
    In between are middle-aged women, many of whom have left the workforce to become caregivers for elderly parents. Not only do they not get paid for the care they give, but they jeopardize their own income security and health care when they reach retirement age because they have quit paying into Social Security.
    The need for financial help is clear and growing. Among those turning 65 today, 70% will eventually need help with one activity of daily living such as eating and bathing. Fifty-two percent will need significant long-term services and supports for two activities of daily living. Among those needing such supports now, 40 percent are working-age adults, many of whom need lifetime care, according to the National Academy of Social Insurance, a nonprofit, nonpartisan Washington-based organization, which fosters the understanding of America’s social insurance programs: Social Security and Medicare.
    But what if there were a program where Americans paid a little bit each month through their entire working life just as they do now to qualify for Social Security and Medicare benefits? Over a lifetime, a person would be entitled to a benefit just as paying into Social Security entitles them to receive disability benefits and their surviving spouse or children to receive survivors’ benefits should the person die. In the last 20 or 30 years, policy proposals in this area didn’t match the magnitude of the problem, said Marc Cohen, a co-director of the Leading Age Long-term Services and Supports Center at University of Massachusetts, Boston. But now a more far-reaching proposal has surfaced.

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