Thank you to the Tallahassee Democrat for meeting with me and publishing their own editorial about the risks of potential legislation that would harm family member caregivers. http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013304130002

The value of caregivers sometimes goes unnoticed by lawmakers and our community.  Genworth Financial conducts annual studies on the cost of long term care.  Beyond Dollars: The True Impact of Long Term Caring, conducted in 2010, surveyed more than 800 consumers with personal involvement in long term care for more than 30 days.

Some findings:

• 88% Said their household income was reduced by an average 34% due to their long term caring
• 60% Reported a need to cut back on family expenses after a long term care event
• 63% Reduced their savings by an average 61%

Emotional Impact

• 42% Felt stress with their spouse
• 35% Reported stress with their children
• 49% Of care recipients had not considered the possibility of needing long term care
• 29% Of care recipients required care for 3 years or more
• 37% Of care recipients were moved into a family member’s home for a period of time

Financial Impact to Primary Caregivers

• 83% Contributed financially – an average $8,800 for out-of-pocket care expenses (excludes cost of facility care)
• 57% Had to dip into their own retirement funds and/or savings
• 29% Borrowed money, took out a reverse mortgage and/or sold their home
• 63% Reported lost income – an average of 23% of household income
• 61% Reduced their savings by an average of 63%
• 40% Reduced family vacations
• 45% Cut back on their own family expenses

These results show the reason why our lawmakers should not pass HB 1323 and SB 1748 in their original form, which severely limit the pay that family members get as caregivers for a loved one.  Currently you are allowed to be paid by the person you are caring for.

I personally worked with fellow elder law attorneys, AARP, the Alzheimer’s Association, and the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to strike the language in these bills and substitute language that allows DCF to govern Personal Service Contracts with flexible rules, rather than laws.  I would encourage you to call your lawmakers and ask them to only pass this legislation if the bill has our new amendment.

Have you ever been a caregiver for a family member or been the recipient of the care?  No doubt your care is offered out of love, but you can see why pay matters.  But the original Senate bill calls for minimum wage.  Our amendment changes that, as well as other problems with the bill, such as requiring the caregiver to accurately predict how many hours will be spent on taking their loved one to the doctor or running vital errands, very difficult to predict when you are caring for an ailing elderly person.

I am interested in hearing about your situation and encourage you to respond to my blog.  If you have been a caregiver for a loved one, did you suffer from financial and emotional stress?  How did you manage it?

As a Tallahassee area Elder Care Attorney, I see instances like these quite often and believe me, my clients are more than just statistics.

You can see more results of the Genworth study at http://tinyurl.com/c3f4et2.  Also, a good resource for news articles about this and other long term care issues are my Twitter (@TLHElderLaw) and Facebook (Sketchley Elder Law) pages.

Thank you for caring!