March 2009
Newsworthy Items

The Family Caregiver Alliance Releases National Policy Statement
for 2009

Family Caregiver

By Richard Shank

The Family Caregiver Alliance (FCA) recently published policy recommendations for the new presidential administration.

The FCA was founded in 1977 and serves as an advocacy and public policy group for caregivers. Their primary mission is to outline the needs and challenges that caregivers face in order to provide them with assistance through education, services, research, and political advocacy.

They wrote the below recommendations in hopes of encouraging the Obama administration to take family caregiving seriously during the policy-making process related to primary and long-term care. Their goal is to strengthen policies and federal initiatives that have the power to assist family caregivers.

Family caregivers require information and supportive services as they often juggle two different generations of dependents within, and between, their careers. Nearly 44.4 million Americans provide care for an adult family member or a friend who has a disabling or chronic health condition. The majority of these care recipients rely exclusively on friends and family for their care. The economic value that caregivers provide is estimated at $375 billion per year, if the services were to be compensated.

The FCA encourages the federal government to help family caregivers by ensuring them access to caregiver assistance programs and high-quality home and community-based services (HCBS).

Their proposals suggest that the new administration:

  • Authorize and fund a National Resource Center on Caregiving
  • Improve hospital discharge and post-acute care under Medicare
  • Establish caregiver assessment programs for HCBS
  • Ensure access to care coordination
  • Commission the Institute of Medicine to comprehensively study family caregiving
  • Double the funding for the National Family Caregiver Support Program established in the Older Americans Act
  • Fully fund the Lifespan Respite Care Act
  • Expand the Family and Medical Leave Act and protect employee medical privacy
  • Promote Expansion of the geriatric care workforce
  • Enact legislation providing refundable tax credits for family caregivers and employers
  • Strengthen social security by recognizing the work of family caregivers

You can find specific information about these policy proposals at the FCA website: www.caregiver.org.

Comments? Tell us what you think: askaia@matherlifeways.com

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