Valuing the invaluable: the economic value of family caregiving, 2008 update

Valuing the invaluable: the economic value of family caregiving, 2008 update

Collection:
Health Policy and Services Research
Series Title(s):
Insight on the issues (AARP Public Policy Institute)
Contributor(s):
Houser, Ari.
Gibson, Mary Jo Storey.
AARP (Organization)
Public Policy Institute (AARP (Organization))
Publication:
Washington, D.C. : AARP Public Policy Institute, c2008
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Caregivers -- economics
Caregivers -- statistics & numerical data
United States
Genre(s):
Technical Report
Abstract:
In today's tumultuous economic climate, family caregivers remain the backbone of our nation's long-term car (LTC) system. Their unpaid contributions, along with those of friends and neighbors, include not only personal care and help with everyday tasks, but also health-related interventions, such as administering complex medications. In 2007, about 34 million family caregivers provided care at any given point in time, and about 52 million provided care at some time during the year. The estimated economic value of their unpaid contributions was approximately $375 billion in 2007, up from an estimated $350 billion in 2006. This increase assumes the age-adjusted prevalence of caregiving is unchanged but reflects an increase in the U.S. population, aging of the population, and an increase in the economic value per hour of care. This Insights on the Issues provides estimates of the economic value of family caregivers' contributions at both the national and state levels, using the most recent data available. It also summarizes key findings about the costs of caregiving to caregivers themselves, as well as how informal caregiving helps to improve the quality of health and LTC and reduce the use of nursing home and inpatient hospital care, from studies that have been published over roughly the last three years.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. (More information)
Extent:
8 leaves
Illustrations:
Illustrations
NLM Unique ID:
101491762 (See catalog record)
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101491762