America’s Caregiving and Aging Challenges

Volunteers of America has spent more than a century anticipating and adapting to the needs of our most vulnerable citizens. As one of the largest nonprofit providers of senior affordable housing in the United States, as well as one of the largest nonprofit providers of nursing care and assisted living, we believe our mission today is to rise to the challenge of caring for an aging America. Recently, we hosted our second annual panel discussion in Washington D.C. on the future of care and services for older Americans.

We also worked with Lake Research Partners and American Viewpoint to commission a study to determine the most challenging issues facing Americans regarding caregiving and aging. Our findings show that Volunteers of America’s Aging with Options™ initiative is on target in providing an integrated care and support system for older Americans and their caregivers.

Key Findings

1. Caregivers’ believe the economic downturn has made caregiving more difficult.

Nearly half of women caregivers (48 percent) say the economic situation has made providing care more difficult. Less educated, Democratic, and those with less income are more likely than others to feel this economic squeeze.
Over half of caregivers have provided financial assistance to a family member within the past two years for a variety of reasons, such as due to age, long-term illness, disability, or some combination. Few (11 percent) are paid for the care they provide.
Additionally, a significant proportion of non-caregivers (39 percent) are not confident about their ability to cover the costs of their possible future care responsibilities.
Time as much as money is key. People are giving time and missing work in order to provide care (47 percent have had to miss social events or vacations and 38 percent have had to miss work).

2. Caregiving is widespread and many expect a future caregiving role.

Approximately three in ten respondents overall (i.e. adults age 45 and older) are already current caregivers for a family member who is elderly, has a long-term illness, or a disability and a third of non-caregivers expect such a role in the future.
Roughly two-thirds of respondents overall expect they or someone else in their family will be the primary person responsible for providing this care, with a third saying they will be providing the care themselves.
Among current caregivers ages 45 to 65, roughly six in ten expect to have the primary responsibility to provide care for their parents or other elderly relatives and another quarter say someone else in their family will provide this care.
Noticeably, adults overall and caregivers tend to have similar attitudes and tend to be similar in the actions they have taken around preparing for their own future aging needs.

3. Americans over 45, as well as caregivers, strongly support aging policies that make caregiving easier and independence possible for aging Americans.

Adults over age 45 overwhelmingly prefer to remain in their own homes as they age and they strongly value the independence of seniors in general.
Allowing seniors to remain independent for as long as possible and allowing the elderly to age at home if they choose are core values to respondents overall and caregivers alike. This is not even a debate with the public.
There is also strong majority support for better workplace policies to help family meet obligations to aging family members. This particularly centers on flexible and alternative work schedules that allow workers to take time off.Allowing seniors to have assets in excess of $2,000 and still qualify for Medicaid to pay for long-term care and providing tax deductions to caregivers who provide care for aging family members prove the most popular policies.
Support for policy change around aging is quite strong. Majorities of respondents overall, caregivers, and people across demographic groups support each proposal presented.

4. There is a widespread lack of planning for the future. Many people have not started making necessary preparations for their own older years or for their future caregiving needs.

While a narrow majority of respondents have talked with family members about coordinating their future care needs, they are less likely to have talked with their doctor about aging issues, drafted a will or power of attorney, or looked into taking time off from work to provide care for an aging parent or family member.
Even among current caregivers, a sizable proportion have not started making plans for their own future needs.

Research Methodology

Lake Research Partners and American Viewpoint designed and administered this survey which was conducted by professional interviewers. The survey reached a total of 1,200 adults ages 45 and older nationwide with an oversample of 250 adults ages 45-65 who provide care to an elder family member. Relevant cases in the base were folded into the oversample. The survey was conducted April 7 to 14, 2010. Telephone numbers for the sample were drawn randomly from random digit dialing (RDD) sample. The sample was stratified by gender and geographically to reflect the population. Data were weighted slightly by party identification, education, and race to reflect the attributes of this universe. The margin of error for the base is +/- 2.8%; the margin of error for the oversample of caregivers is +/-4.4%. The use of the term “caregivers” in the report refers to those who are within the target 45 to 65 year old age range and who say they provide care to a family member who is elderly, disabled, or has a long-term illness.