The Economics of Caring for a Growing Number of Older New Yorkers

By Michael Clifford and Kevin Clay, Public News Service

October 1, 2008

Washington and taxpayers get financial relief when New Yorkers provide care for elders at home. Studies show New York State saves more than $20 billion through family caregiving. Today, during the "International Day of Older Persons," the United Nations is focusing on home care and other issues important to senior citizens and their families. 

Gail Hunt, president of the National Alliance on Caregiving, will moderate a discussion at UN headquarters in New York City. She says the Empire State saves plenty when family members provide elder care instead of putting older New Yorkers into institutions such as nursing homes, where Medicaid tax dollars kick in. 

"In New York State there are more than 2.5 million family caregivers, and they save the state $24 billion a year."

Hunt says New Yorkers should know that the United States is behind the curve compared to England and other developed countries, which supplement family caregiver incomes and provide training. AARP estimates family caregivers in the United States provide $350 billion worth of value nationally . 

Family caregiving is gaining prominence as an issue, however, because the first members of the Baby Boomer generation will turn 65 by the year 2011. AARP President Jennie Chin Hansen says there will be plenty more "graying" Americans right behind them. 

"By 2030, one in five of us will be over 65. Perhaps we can find a much more preventive way of investing in care, rather than waiting until we completely fall apart and need a lot of care, and a lot of expensive care."

Hansen says family caregivers need more support from community-based programs like "Meals on Wheels." She points to a national effort to fund a respite care program that would give caregivers a one- or two-week break from caring from an older person or a severely disabled child. 

More information on the United Nations "International Day of Older Persons" is available online at www.un.org/Depts/dhl/olderpersons.

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