Guest AuthorWhile candidates for Florida governor trade barbs about what they said or did years ago, none of them talks about the crisis in the state that’s staring them in the face.
If you don’t already know it, you will before long: There is a caregiving crisis in the U.S. — and especially Florida.
Directly or indirectly, it will affect everyone. At the time of the study “Caregiving in the U.S. 2009,” from the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, 65.7 million unpaid family members (29 percent of the U.S. adult population) were caregivers to an adult or child. And more than 36.5 million households (31 percent of all households) had a caregiver in it.
Seventy percent of caregivers were taking care of someone 50 years old or older. Caregivers say that the top two reasons they needed to give care were their relative’s old age and Alzheimer’s or dementia.
Caregivers reported being in their role on average for 4.6 years, with three in 10 having spent five years or more.
The American Association of Caregiving Youth, headquartered in Boca Raton, has estimated that 1.4 million young people are caregivers.
As the U.S. population continues to age, more and more Americans — mostly seniors, many living in Florida — will need help in their daily living. They aren’t acutely ill, but may be frail and failing, limited in what they can do and where they can go. All of us will be affected because we will need others to care for us or because we will need to care for someone else.
Unfortunately, family caregiving isn’t sufficiently addressed as a national, or state, priority. According to the recent AARP report, “A State Scorecard on Long-Term Services and Supports for Older Adults, People with Physical Disabilities, and Family Caregivers,” Florida ranks 43rd in the nation, at the bottom of the proverbial barrel. So what’s new?
Caregiving was barely mentioned during the long hours of the debate over the Affordable Care Act. But as should be clear from the numbers of people needing care, we can’t build enough assisted living facilities or nursing homes to accommodate everyone — nor should we.
In addition, insurance companies will not be able to write enough policies paying enough in benefits to defray all the costs we’ll face as a nation. And no government program will be able to pick up all of the slack.
Obviously, the responsibility for caregiving is going to rest, and should rest, with American families. More of us need to start caring for our family members in our own homes. You don’t know what love is until you’ve changed your mother’s or father’s diaper — or survived the shock that they no longer know your name. No gift you can buy can equal the time you spend holding the hand of, and talking to, someone with Alzheimer’s, whether you think they understand what you’re saying or not.
Of course, we could all use a little assist from our “friends” holding or running for elective office. Government policies and services could help reduce the direct and indirect costs of family caregiving (lost time from work, for example). Perhaps, it’s time for candidates for Florida governor to edit their stump speech and pledge to make the state caregiver-friendly.
Stephen L. Goldstein is the author of “The Dictionary of American Political Bullshit” and “Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned.” He lives in Fort Lauderdale. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
