Our children, with their jobs and busy lives, are not readily available for impromptu care giving. So we probably would have called a home health agency and asked for a helper to assist Sara and do the housework. That would have been costly, both financially and emotionally. Fortunately, it didn't come to that. Sara and I have many friends who spent years caring for relatives suffering from stroke, cancer and Alzheimer's disease.
Caregivers belong to a big club.
According to a recent report in Health Affairs magazine, 25.8 million Americans spend an average of 18 hours a week caring for ailing relatives. The role of the caregiver in American life is drawing much attention in Washington these days. On Capitol Hill, legislators have proposed a variety of tax exemptions and deductions to help caregivers. Clinton also has suggested letting federal employees buy private long-term care insurance, which pays a limited amount toward the cost of nursing home and home care. Gail Hunt, executive director of the National Alliance for Caregiving, based in Bethesda, told me that many in Congress are concerned about who will pay for the future long-term care costs of 77 million aging baby boomers.