At the beginning of the semester, we discussed how women's care to an elderly parent or a spouse considered to be an informal health care sector. The New York Times today has an article that gives some very interesting figures.
The article notes that "[t]he unpaid services of America’s family caregivers amounted to some $375 billion in 2007, up from $350 billion in 2006." The report also estimates that
34 million American adults provide an average of 21 hours a week of care to another adult, usually an elderly parent or spouse, worth $10.10 an hour in the marketplace.The article further notes the following, which is the most relevant to our class:
That’s a bloodless way of thinking about the typical caregiver, who is defined in a series of benchmark studies as a 46-year-old woman, married, employed and looking after a widowed mother who needs help with everyday tasks and medical issues. But you know who they’re talking about: You.
You have a full-time job, a demanding husband, probably children of your own. You spend nights and weekends neglecting your own family while doing your mother’s grocery shopping and visiting her because she rarely gets out anymore. When she has a doctor’s appointment you skip work. She’s fallen a few times and you’ve raced from the office, or a Little League game, to the emergency room. You’re always tired. You don’t have enough time for anyone, and you have no time at all for yourself.
...You can read the full article at the New York Times Web site by visiting this link: http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/loves-labor/?hp
The AARP report also notes the other costs of caregiving. Out-of-pocket expenses for our hypothetical 40-something daughter — on groceries, home repair, medications for her mother — average $5,531 a year. If mom lives in Florida and you in New York, that’ll be $8,728 a year because of travel, long-distance telephone and the like.
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