November 2006 — The value of "free" services provided by family caregivers to their chronically ill, disabled or aged loved ones jumped to $306 billion--a 19% increase in the past four years--according to research by Peter S. Arno, PhD, a health economist at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY.
The state-by-state analysis of the number of family caregivers, hours of caregiving services and their estimated market value was released today by National Family Caregivers Association and Family Caregiver Alliance.
The largest caregiving states, according to a new analysis, are California, with an annual market value of over $36 billion, followed by Texas at $22 billion; New York at $20 billion; Florida at $19 billion; and Pennsylvania at $13 billion.
"This state-by-state ranking of the value of family caregiving is critical information for policy makers, state service providers, and healthcare leaders. The numbers reinforce the need to develop programs and policies at all levels to educate and support family caregivers who are providing the bulk of long-term care services," said Suzanne Mintz, president and co-founder of the National Family Caregivers Association. "These statistics are a powerful reminder of just how hard family caregivers are working and they raise serious questions for the future as the aging of the Baby Boom peaks."
Family caregivers provide a vast array of emotional, financial, nursing, social, homemaking and other services on a daily or intermittent basis. While some family caregivers provide 24/7 care for loved ones who require assistance for all daily living activities, others may provide care on a part-time basis. Family caregiving can extend for a few years or a lifetime.
"Families are the mainstay of our long-term care system, with nearly 80 percent of long-term care provided in the home, not in institutions," said Kathleen Kelly, Executive Director of Family Caregiver Alliance. "That care includes everything from cooking meals to changing feeding tubes, from dispensing medications to managing incontinence. Were families to cease providing this care, the enormous burden placed on our healthcare system would be crippling. We need to respect and honor not only the staggering dollar value of the care these families provide, but also their dedication to the challenging and sometimes exhausting job of caring for their loved ones."
Data charts are available in rank order: http://www.thefamilycaregiver.org/pdfs/State_Caregiving_Databyrank2006.pdf or alphabetically by state: http://www.thefamilycaregiver.org/pdfs/State_Caregiving_Databystate2006.pdf.
