Blog Summary: Caregivers and Stress

            Caregiving in the 21^st century is a complicated and sometimes controversial issue.  It is interwoven with health insurance issues and the economy.  Family caregivers provide large amounts of unpaid work in addition to being paid caregivers for their children, parents or other relatives. 

Society really needs to step up to the plate and both recognize the contribution family caregivers make to society, and provide them with financial and emotional support and respite opportunities.  Maintaining the physical and emotional health of family caregivers should be top priority in a society that wants to contain health care costs.

In addition to social effects, caregiving is a difficult and complicated emotional process for the individual.  Feelings of anger, guilt and grief can be mixed with feelings of love, pride at a job well done, and a sense of purpose.

I hope this blog has helped readers to be more aware of these issues, and to perhaps think about ways they can contribute.  If you are a caregiver, take the time to care for yourself and reach out to others for support.  If you are not a caregiver, offer your help through a volunteer organization or to individuals you know, to provide respite and emotional support.  And if you think you might become a caregiver someday, be sure to educate yourself now, before you find yourself becoming overwhelmed.

CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC: PAYING FOR CAREGIVING?

          Two recent articles have highlighted a newly controversial topic in the area of caregiving.  According to Yuxing Zheng of The Oregonian, the Affordable Care Act has a provision that “would largely prohibit guardians from serving as the paid caregiver of an adult child with developmental disabilities” (Zheng, 2013).  This means that parents who are guardians would no longer be eligible to receive payment for caring for their child.
          Some advantages of this could be that professional caregivers would have a certain level of training to ensure that they have the qualifications to care for their clients.  Additionally, jobs for professional caregivers could increase. 
          On the down side, many parents of severely disabled adults have given up careers to become full-time caregivers for their children, and rely on caregiver payments for income.  If the parents no longer receive caregiver payments, they might have to place their children into an expensive nursing facility.

          Zheng tells the story of one Oregon resident, Deana Copeland, who cares for her multiply-disabled 22 year old daughter.  As Copeland points out, paying for her daughter to be cared for at a facility will be much more expensive than keeping her at home (Zheng, 2013).  Additionally, Copeland expresses that she can provide care for her daughter in ways that unrelated caregivers cannot.
          This sentiment is echoed in another article which discusses California’s new budget restrictions on caregivers.  Gary Cohn of Capital & Main says that in his 2014-2015 budget, Governor Jerry Brown proposes limiting state home health care workers to 40 hours per week (Cohn, 2014).  This is designed to avoid having the state pay overtime as required by the  Affordable Care Act (Cohn, 2014).  In light of the slow recovery from the 2008 recession, costs will need to be contained.  Also, due to the aging of the baby boomer generation and advances in medicine, the number of people requiring care continues to increase, raising costs.         
          Nonetheless, according to Cohn, cutting overtime for home health workers would be a penny-wise, pound –foolish strategy.  This is because the state’s home health care program is designed to keep seniors and disabled adults from living in costly institutions (Cohn, 2014).           
          Although many of the affected caregivers are not relatives, they still feel connected to their clients because they spend so many hours with them.  One such caretaker, a long-time neighbor, points out that because she is so attuned to her client, she has “kept her out of the hospital for two years” (Cohn, 2014).
          This issue highlights the importance of understanding health issues from multiple perspectives, especially when developing policy with far-reaching effects.

  

References

Cohn, G. (2014).  Careless:  how Governor Brown is harming California’s seniors and disabled—and
          the people who care for them.  Capital & Main.  Retrieved from 
          http://capitalandmain.com/careless-how-governor-brown-is-harming-californias-seniors-and-disabled-and-the-people-who-care-for-them/.
Zheng, Y. (2013).  Disability rights advocates, families fight new provision of Affordable Care Act. 
          The Oregonian:  Portland, Oregon.  Retrieved from
          http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/08/disability_rights_advocates_fa.html.