Our site will be undergoing maintenance from 6 a.m. - 6 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 20. During this time, Bookshop, checkout, and other features will be unavailable. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Cookies must be enabled to use this website.
Book Image Not Available Book Image Not Available
Book details
  • Genre:FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS
  • SubGenre:Eldercare
  • Language:English
  • Pages:252
  • eBook ISBN:9781682223598
  • Paperback ISBN:9781682223581

The 2030 Caregiving Crisis

A Heavy Burden for Boomer Children

by Henry Moss

Book Image Not Available Book Image Not Available
Overview

     There won't be enough family caregivers for aging boomers.  We need to add long-term care to Medicare and start training the millions of personal care aides we'll need to help out. 

Description

     The U.S. lacks a long-term care system. The closest it has is Medicaid, a safety net program for the very poor. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 90% of older persons receiving help with activities of daily living (ADLs) in 2011 relied on some "informal" care, from family members and friends. About two thirds relied on only informal care. Family and friends collectively provided 75–80% of total care hours in non-institutional settings.

     Synthesizing the latest research, this book argues that we are underestimating the extent of caregiving need for baby boomers when they become the oldest old in 2030-2050. It also suggests we are overestimating boomer health and wealth. Disability levels will likely grow beyond expectations, through an increasing incidence and prevalence of dementia, mobility disorders, and general frailty, the result of increasing levels of obesity, hypertension, and atherosclerosis. Correspondingly, the caregiving situation will get much worse. The tidal wave of boomer retirement is upon us along with the "birth dearth" that followed. Family caregivers, adult children in particular, face bleak prospects. Adult children of boomers will be dealing with work obligations, their children's college expenses, the effects of the recent recession, and ongoing economic stagnation. They will be hard-pressed to take on the extent of caregiving that will be needed by the huge boomer generation.

     The case is made for recruiting and training millions of additional personal care aides as boomers age into their 80s and face chronic illness and severe disability. The aides will be needed to assure safety and emotional well-being and to relieve overburdened family members. They should be deployed into private homes, senior residences, and even nursing homes to ensure quality person-centered care for up to 24/7. Medicare, or a new insurance program, should make such assistance universally available.

About the author

     Henry Moss is a retired baby boomer doing independent academic and public policy research and writing.  He has a PhD in philosophy and has written on cognitive science and the history and philosophy of technological progress.  His public policy interests include health care, housing and urban development, technological progress, and theories of social democracy.

     Although he taught philosophy for several years, he was primarily an educational administrator in private trade colleges for 30 years or so before retirement.  He can be contacted at hmoss011@gmail.com